Aaaah Memories

Came home to the husband washing dishes last night.  I know Gals, pick up your jaws.

Meant only one thing.  He was feeling amorous.

Oh, and he thinks the name “Hubs” is dorky.  What does he know.

It was good timing because I had read a few blogs this week that made me think of my wedding day and the road there, not really that long ago.

Hubs and I had been living together for a couple of years before we got married.  We had both lost our jobs in the city where rent was over $1000 a month for a one bedroom apartment.  So we moved in together, with his (already) roommate.

Horrid place with shag carpet on a narrow staircase, a pink kitchen w/ terribly stained carpet.  Pink tiled bathroom w/ a low shower head.  But we had a view of the city from the West.  (Not as great as my flat that had a view of the GG bridge and the Marin headlands but I was out of work and he was the one with a savings account).

Those were the days of color coordinated lunches, usually orange: doritos and grilled cheese sandwiches or mac and cheese and a handful of carrots.

It was also a time where we had the freedom to take a few road trips, usually camping and always on the cheap.  A wonderful way to see Northern California, though I don’t recommend doing it in a corvette.  (Unless it’s a convertible, of course.)

It wasn’t long before we found jobs.  Me first, I’m proud to say.  I supported you Man!  Across town to North Beach by bus was not a fun commute.  Didn’t get a lot of colorful characters on that route and man was it long.  Hubs’ solution:  a scooter!  Woo hoo!  That baby was fun!

Hubs found a job in the East bay which seemed like Siberia to this city lovin’ gal.  Busy season sucked that year.  He wouldn’t get home until 10 some nights and I missed him terribly.  That was a long spring for both of us.

So we started looking for houses in Siberia over the bridge, somewhere between his new job and mine.  When we found this one, we fell in love.  I’ll have to tell ya all about the work we’ve done…one of these days.

The day we closed on the house, I lost my job.  I wasn’t very good at it.  Really…I just did not have the computer skills to keep up with the demand of a successful web based retailer.  (I still don’t, actually…I went back sometime later when they were looking for another person for the “department” I manned.  The “test” illustrated my complete lack of understanding of mail merge programs.)

All the while, we never seriously spoke about getting married.  I didn’t want to.  I was cool with living in sin.  I knew we were commited to each other.  I knew that I could have children with this man and not need some piece of paper to tell me he was mine, or that I was his.

The family didn’t feel the same way.

Almost as soon as we moved into that house family on both sides started asking questions.  Very pointed questions.  And I folded.

So I told the fam, “Come out this weekend and we’ll go in to City Hall and get this done.”

Really.

We cleaned house, got the license and two weeks before the date I asked a seamstress to make me a dress (I had a pattern from my sister’s wedding and liked it enough to see it in white.)

The night before the crowd was to arrive we made a trip out to the store to get a few things and realized we better have rings for the ceremony.  Got ‘em at the Walmart jewelry counter.  Silly Hubs tried his on the wrong hand and ended up getting the wrong size.

We were sitting in the parking lot in my little beat up civic and I turned to my guy and sadly said. “You know it’s weird that we’re getting married in two days and you’ve not proposed.”  So he did his thing.  Asked me to marry him in the Walmart parking lot 2 days before the wedding.

It was a beautiful day.