ANNIVERSARY HEAT, true WEATHER/LOVE

WORD COUNT:543


ANNIVERSARY HEAT, a true WEATHER and LOVE story!

Exactly 21 years ago today, my wonderful husband and I got married in a simple ceremony in Memphis, in the conference room-Session Room, it was called-of our beloved church, exactly one week after choosing the date and making arrangements with our pastor--you can pull this sort of thing off if you are relatively sedate and have dated for the previous ten years, not wanting to rush things!! We finally had gotten our hectic career-centered lives together well enough to make this happen with some grace, or so we thought! What we did not see coming at us on that hallowed day was how life would intervene to thwart our plans on our special day, making us just that much crazier in the bargain!!

Things started out hectic that wedding morning as Rick came over to my house, where we would be living and spending our wedding night. As he helped me move something--our life is always fraught with projects---we noticed that the air conditioner in my bedroom had suddenly ceased making its chugging and gurgling sounds
and was not blowing any air, hot or otherwise!! In Memphis, Tennessee, where it's usually humidenough to cut the air, we knew that we had to take immediate action! And, we knew that was not just a window unit problem--it had to do with the vagaroes of old wiring in an old house! We called our friendly neighborhood electrician, who was able to come right over. He diagnosed the problem as a burned out wire at the lectrical
box, and fixed it for no charge!! What a pleasant summer gift!

We felt unusually lucky and decided to have a little feast for lunch. We had bought treats for the weekend: watermelon, ice cream and deli meats. We proceeded to begin our feast when the phone rang. It turned out that our beloved oldest cat had crossed an enormous busy road that made a T with our quiet little street and who was now lapping milk with one of our older, unmet neighbors! So, we had to gobble up our treats and rush over to get our cat, who had no idea what she had done, only that it gotten her a new friend and a nice dish of milk. Thankfully, she only did that a few more times in her long, 16-year life!!

By the time we were finished arranging for cool air and rescuing our dear cat, we were at our wits end and it was time to head for the church. Ordinarily, the bride and groom arrive in separate cars; we had had enough of our day, that we were running short on ceremony and niceties at that point!

Only our closest friends were attending the actual wedding and we were taking eveyone out to eat at our favorite restaurant afterward in lieu of a reception. So, imagine my surprise when my usually-calm husband turned to me and hollered. "Why did the air conditioning have to break now," he asked In utter frustration and much to my dismay , I heard my own voicee at a distance, screeching in a non-nuptial tone! I'm sweating buckets, she said{/b]

Thus started our wonderful, eventful 21-year marriage celebration!!