If memory serves, and my calculations are correct, today is Cathy and Jason’s 5th wedding anniversary. I thought about doing a five for five, but I’ve already done that for someone else, and I don’t want to feel like I’m copying myself. So, I regressed to my first day of ninth grade and devised a name poem in honor of this momentous occasion. Hopefully, the words have meaning to them (I’ve supplied explanations below for the rest of us saps).
C – Cookies
A – Anachronistic
T – Troubadour
H – Honeymoon Suite
Y – Yummy Food
A – Adamant
N – Napa
D – Data Mining
J – Jamestown
A – Affinity
S – Sugar Mouse
O – Olive Garden
N – North Carolina
Cookies: Cathy has always been a great baker. She made cookies for us at least once a week. I knew this match was perfect when she came home (all dreamy-eyed) from the first time Jason made dinner for her and announced that he had his very own cookie recipe.
Anachronistic: Their wedding was medieval themed. The entire wedding party (except the priest) was in medieval garb. To further crash the eras together, Jason and his groomsmen performed a parody of Wild Cherry’s “Play that Funky Music (White Boy)” – it became “Play that Funky Music (Knight Boy)”
Troubadour: Because this was a medieval wedding, they hired a troubadour to entertain us during the reception.
Honeymoon Suite: The hotel lost their room reservation for the first night of their married life. I still can picture the scene of Cathy in her wedding gown on the phone in the lobby with the reservation office trying to track a room down. In the end, they got a totally appropriate room and lots of champagne.
Yummy Food – Excellent reception food, complete with make your own pasta bar.
Adamant: Cathy’s ring is set with a polished emerald.
Napa: Jason proposed at a spa in Napa. The funny side to this sweet story is that he managed to trick Cathy about where they were actually going. What makes this even FUNNIER is that this is the second time he managed to do this…to the same spa.
Data Mining: This is my favorite sweet story. Jason designed and made Cathy’s wedding ring. Cathy is a musician (he is not); her ring is two eighth notes encircling her finger. The two note bodies overlap, which is where the stone is set. He attended a jewelry-making course one night a week for a semester and told her he was taking a course in “Data Mining.”
Jamestown: The town where their wedding was held
Affinity: Do I need to explain this? So, no explanation, but my wish that they have many more happy years together.
Sugar Mouse: My second favorite sweet story. Cathy’s favorite childhood book was called The Sugar Mouse. It’s this wonderful story about friends going to extremes to help each other succeed. It is out of print. Her mom stalked eBay until she won a copy. The wedding cake designer copied the cake from the book (complete with sugar mice) for their cake. It was amazing!
Olive Garden: This was where the rehearsal dinner was held.
North Carolina: The state where they were married.
And oh, all right, one for the road. The night before the wedding, Cathy and I (as Maiden of the Moat) were sharing a hotel room. I was having a hard time sleeping (as I often do in hotels). I also was trying VERY hard to not wake up the bride. At some point during the night I got up during the night to use the restroom. While trying to find my way back to bed in the dark, I tripped over my suitcase. I then tried to climb into bed from the foot (to avoid tripping over anything else) and misjudged where the edge was causing me to fall unceremoniously to the floor with a loud “thunk”, hitting the night stand on the way down. Cathy swears that she slept through the entire thing.
Today is also Cathy’s birthday. While she thinks she’s turning an unlucky number, I think it’s cool because the second number is a power of the first number. PLUS she can divide the first digit of her age not only into the year of her birth but also into both digits of the year. Happy day!
