Thirteen years ago this morning, I awoke in a hotel room, walked tentatively to the window and opened the blinds, and was relieved to see a perfectly blue August sky.  We had planned an outdoor wedding on the side of a mountain at a spot we had both fallen in love with, and there was no contingency plan for bad weather.  The gamble, thankfully, had paid off.

A few hours later, I cruised LBJ (‘Little Black Jetta’) down I-90 with my sisters, wedding dress laid across the back seat….Dave Matthews Band “Live at Red Rocks”, disc one.  My car didn’t have a CD player, but, being the resourceful type, I had taped my CD so that I could listen in the car:  Seek Up, Proudest Monkey……Two Step, with my favorite jam in the middle.   My husband hates those jams that make the song drag on forever; just one of our many differences that help us to balance each other.

12:00pm is not exactly the time for a dancy, party kind of wedding.  Our plan was to get hitched, have some food and cake, then get the heck out of Dodge and fly to San Francisco for the night, before heading out the next morning on our Italian honeymoon.

No dance floor, but I did feel compelled to hire a DJ to play background music during the reception.  He gave me a list of suggested standards, and asked that I edit it to let him know what I wanted him to play.  I made big X’s across most of the list and gave it back to him, along with lawyerly-typed instructions of what not to play (“under NO circumstances are you to play that Celine Dion song from ‘Titanic'”).  Looking back on it, I suppose it was a little Bridezilla-ish, but why did he give me a list if he didn’t want input on it?   During the reception, he sat solemnly off to the side of the bar.  Someone must have requested an obnoxious song, because I learned later that he was overheard explaining “sorry, I’m just here to play background music”.

The weather held.  I did not slip on the grass while walking down the aisle.  We made promises to each other in front of our family and friends, Mount Si bearing witness in the background.

Hours later, we were whisked away to the airport by our oldest and dearest friend, who had been my husband’s best man.  Sunburned and shiny, we boarded the plane, and the adventure began.  What a trip it’s been so far….and always with background music.