20th wedding anniversary. I almost forgot!
Here I am at West Palm Beach Airport, waiting for my flight to Arizona, where my daughter is playing in a national tennis tournament. She’s with my wife.
It’s been a chaotic day. My layover is in Dallas and the flight from Florida is delayed by over two hours. American Airlines texted saying I should look for other connecting flights, but then they also told me they have no other flights to either Tucson (where I need to end up) or Phoenix today or tomorrow so I should try making my current connection, even though it will be very tight.
So I will try! I got my running shoes on me and an additional pair in my carry-on bag so if I get stuck in Dallas or elsewhere I will be ok! I did check in a suitcase but it was packed by my wife — I’m bringing some additional clothing for her and my daughter. Too bad for them if this suitcase doesn’t make it to Tucson on time!
It was only when I was finally at my gate that I remembered one important reason why it’d be good if I make it to Arizona before tomorrow. December 28th is our wedding anniversary. Twenty years this year!
I forgot because I always remember the day we met, not so much the day had our wedding.
More than three years separate the two events. The day we met was the real magic.
The day we had the wedding ceremony was fun but it was just, well, a ceremony.
It was an extremely cold day in Moscow but it was lots of fun! We traveled from London where I was working in my first year after graduating from Cambridge. Moscow was still home then though I had spent many years away from Russia — for education and now work. My Russian friends worked in London too and all made the effort of travelling to Moscow for the winter break to attend our wedding.
We had an official ceremony in central Moscow and then partied at a resort in the countryside. It was great fun, except for the fact that my parents weren’t together. They separated two years earlier and my mom would never want to be in touch with my father — so painful was my dad’s abandonment of her.
So here we are twenty years and four kids later. Our teenage sons are so grown up now they drive! And America is our home, for almost a decade. We roam across its vastness. California, Florida, Texas, Arizona. Sometimes for short events, sometimes because we are still figuring out what the best place is for our large family and various undertakings.
If I’m fortunate, I’ll make it to Arizona late this evening and tomorrow night we’ll quietly celebrate the twentieth anniversary of our wedding.
This song comes to mind when I mention Tucson:
You look as good as the day I met you
I forget just why I left you, I was insane
Stay and play that Blink-182 song
That we beat to death in Tucson, okay
I didn’t leave you! And you didn’t leave me! Cheers to twenty years.
So, baby, pull me closer
In the back seat of your Rover
That I know you can’t afford
Bite that tattoo on your shoulder
Pull the sheets right off the corner
Of that mattress that you stole
From your roommate back in Boulder
We ain’t ever getting older
We ain’t ever getting older
We ain’t ever getting older
For my running blog please see Love Letters to Running
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