22. What's a memory you could relive over and over again?
This one is too easy and equal parts cliche, but I could relive my wedding over and over and over and over.
I dreamed about my wedding day for years. What songs would I choose? What style of dress would I wear? What would be my color palette, my flower choices, my cake flavors, etc? Those details mattered to the untethered version of me. But when I knew my now husband would be my life partner, my dream wedding changed. It went from extravagant to "get me down the aisle and let's sign some papers." In my anticipation of locking in my other half, I the aesthetics took a back seat.
That said, I loved each detail that touched our wedding from who was in attendance, to the music, to my elegant bouquet, to my dress, to our reception. I tried my best not to get caught up in the decorative side of planning and instead focus my energy on who I was marrying, the lifelong impact this day would have, and sharing with God and everyone the person who matters most to me.
When I think back on this day, I think about how my cheeks hurt from smiling. I decided early on to ignore any details that might go sideways (because something always will) and to devote my entire self to feeling every aspect of the day. The emotion of the day was so powerful and is etched so deeply in my memory. I felt joyful, by its purest and most loving definition.
I always expected that I'd cry on my wedding day. Other people's weddings always brought tears to my eyes. So I expected I would shed some happy tears for myself as well. But my makeup never ran. My eyes welled as my dad and I stood behind the doors of the sanctuary waiting to walk me down the aisle while my sisters sang "The Prayer." The second Canon in D began to play, and I saw Nathan as my husband for the first time, my smile never left my face.
My voice shook a bit as we made our vows and as their meaning settled over me. I kept thinking "This is so right."
When we got to the reception, we moved through the traditional dances (father-daughter, mother-son, our first dance), and by the grace of our good Lord, our wedding planner whisked us away to a quiet space where plates were prepared for us and we had a few moments to eat, rest, and reflect. Sitting in that space for those few moments provided us with a beautiful and quiet opportunity to reflect on our ceremony, to reflect on the words we exchanged, and the importance of the moment.
Neither Nathan nor I are big on chatting about our feelings, at least not unless they are big feelings. We're more "in the moment" kind of people. But we also don't dismiss important moments after the fact. Sometimes you need to stop for a second and take stock and verbalize the impact of this thing called life. This was one of the most precious moments of our wedding day. Our quiet, reflective moment alone... and eating because we were starving.
The next day, we went home to Atlanta and the following day, we flew to Hawaii for our honeymoon. And this is second on my list of memories to relive, but it's a close, very close, second. Maybe I roll this all into one memory.
Our honeymoon was romantic, fun, relaxing, and everything my heart needed. A helicopter ride over Waimea Canyon, so much poke, hiking Waimea Canyon, driving across Kauai, swimming after dark, seeing an asteroid while swimming after dark, so many mai thais and lava flows, a second gorgeous resort on the Big Island, macaroni salad, Volcano National Park, feeling like you're walking sideways thanks to Mauna Kai and Mauna Loa, stargazing, and Kona coffee.
Wow. Take me back right now.
