Full Body and a Bouquet for Ten Years' Runnin'

Ten years ago today, I married my best friend, my "Rock".  It's nice to have someone beside you who keeps you "real" and who, in turn, you can bring back to reality as well.  In ten years' time, marriage experiences alot.  You get busy, you get out of sync.  There are times you get angry or resentful with each other, but we (me and Kevin), we always manage to find each other again.  I'm lucky I found a guy who could make me laugh.  I mean, REALLY belly laugh.  And he knows how to do it even when I want to bite his head off.  Especially then.   I think marriage is kind of like a heartbeat.  It has its ups and downs, its peaks and valleys.  But just like a heartbeat, those ups and downs mean that you have life in your marriage.  It's dynamic and energetic, palpable and enduring.  And marriage, like a heartbeat, sometimes beats faster, sometimes slower and sometimes it skips a beat all together.   

So having said all this, I reflect on our wedding day ten years ago.  It was such a great, unforgettable day.    And it was fun.  One of the gifts we got on that wonderful day was a box of 7 bottles of red wine of varying names and vineyards.  Each had a label affixed to its neck with a number printed on it:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10.  The enclosed note indicated that we were to drink the bottle of wine on the indicated anniverary and that each bottle was scheduled to mature on or about the anniversary date on which we were supposed to share it.  How cool was that? 

Kevin and I have so enjoyed this gift and we have looked forward to it over the years.  We drink it out of the special glasses we had for our wedding dinner.  We use them only once a year.  There is usually a bouquet of flowers, presented to me by Kevin, in the room with us and together we sip the wine, experience its "full body" and "bouquet".  We reminisce on the past year together and talk about what we plan for the future.  On two anniversaries (our first and third), the "full body" experience also extended to the baby in my belly, in which case a sip or two of the wine was all I could enjoy, but the anticipation of the "sharing of the wine" was there just the same. 

Tonight we will share our last bottle of wine from that gift.  10 is a milestone for any marriage.  So much growth has already taken place, individually and as a couple.  And still we have so much to look forward to.  Perhaps, together, we'll go in search of wines to share on our 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th and 20th anniversaries.  Sounds like another trip to Sonoma is in order. Here's to "full bodies" and "bouquets"  for another 10 years. Cheers, everyone!
Happy 10th Anniversary, Honey.  I Love You.