July 7, 2012 – Neither of our families thought the events of this day would happen.
Finch and I had met at work about eighteen months earlier. He had recently made the leap from adjunct faculty to tenure track. I had just become department chair. As I was moving into my new office, he was moving into my old office and we just started talking. Things evolved quickly from there and seven months later, he put a beautiful, emerald ring on my left hand.
He was forty-seven and I was thirty-seven. Neither of us had been married. Neither of us had children. We each had enough relationship experience to know what we did and didn’t want. Once the flame was lit, we were ready.
North Freedom, Wisconsin had experienced a heatwave for the two weeks leading up to that Saturday. The temperatures were around 100 everyday. It hadn’t rained during that time so the grass at my parent’s farm was turning brown. The church where we were getting married had air conditioning. However, we were having the reception at the farm so temperatures were a concern. We reserved the church’s reception area in case of inclement weather so we did have a back-up plan.
Our wedding was a traditional, mid-western, family event. The flowers came from our farm
, and the local farmers market. We made the food ourselves. Our wonderful friend, Jackie, made our wedding cake. The photographs were taken by a talented family friend. The biggest hit at the reception was the litter of kittens my sister’s cat, Angel, had a few weeks before the wedding. Everyone loved them, and we smile when we see the pictures they grace.
It’s hard to believe that five years have passed since that day. We have settled into a comfortable domestic groove. Our lives revolve around our careers, pets, families and hobbies. He affably tolerates my idiosyncrasies as I do his. We are genuinely happy.
“You give me the kind of feelings people write novels about.”
