Wedding Anniversary

My wedding anniversary was last week. Or it would have been if I was still married to him.

We got married August 18, 1988, in Mesa, AZ. We eloped.

He was stationed at Port Hueneme, CA. He had been in Puerto Rico for 6 months in the SeaBees. He had only been back in the states for a couple weeks.

I had met him in Sigonella, Sicily, almost 2 years before. I got pregnant right before he left Sicily. We had plans to get married as soon as we both got back to the states.

We split up after our son was born. We had a major disagreement about the name. He wanted to name him after his murdered brother. I refused. We agreed to split up.

Anyway, he came home in August and came down to see us in Mesa. We stayed up almost all night talking. He was supposed to drive home the next day. We only had a few hours to be together.

While we were talking, he suddenly pulled out a set of wedding bands. Tells me that he bought them on base and wanted to know if I still would marry him.

I told him yes.

The next morning, I had to go to work. (I woke up with laryngitis.) I worked until lunchtime, then met him at the local wedding chapel.

After we got married, we went to lunch at Carl's Junior, then I went back to work.

I called my mom from work and told her what we had done. She was stunned, but very excited. Both of my parents really liked him.

They sent me home from work early.

That night, before he left to go back to California, mom and dad made us dinner and went and bought a wedding cake. It was chocolate with blueberry frosting. I have a picture of it somewhere.

I loved him very much, and I guess some part of me always will. He was, and is, a great dad.

I am very glad I am no longer married to him, but there are times I really miss talking to him.