19th wedding anniversay

I've finally figured out what has been wrong with me this week. I've been uncommonly weepy and day dreamy. My wedding anniversary was yesterday (we went to Ruth Chris's Steak House and it was the best steak of my life!) and the memory of those early days when Rocky and I first met and got married are so intense that I'm emotional.

19 years ago when I was 21 and Rocky was 23 we drove to Baltimore (no blood tests) and got married in the city court house. Two US Marshals and a shackled prisoner wished us luck. Afterwards we went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor and had shrimp. Later, we walked into the rectory of Saint Ignatius Chruch in Maryland and asked Fr. Wermer to help us. He gave me a stern talking to about getting married civilly and reminded me that it was no more than living together and then he got to work at the diocese marriage tribunal. We were married in church per the bishop's approval and lived happily ever after.

I remember that it was night and the there were no lights in the church except for candles. We had no flowers except for my corsage and baby's breath crown. I had on an old dress and my satin shoes from my high school prom. Rocky was sweating like Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull and we forgot about getting pictures. Rocky's family did not attend.

His family didn't like me at first. I was not their class, I was Catholic and they were Baptist (Rocky converted after our marriage) and I was too quiet, too smart and just too different from what they expected their son to marry. His little brother frankly told him that he didn't care for me all. Rocky told him thanks for the opinion and pursued me like the Colts going after the Lombardi trophy in the Superbowl anyway.

When I met Rocky I was seriously involved with someone else but he just blew that other guy away. One day as we were walking along I realized that this boy was The ONE. I swear I heard Judy Garland singing. And then I got nauseaus. I had planned to marry someone who was well, weak, tame and who'd let me be in complete charge. Rocky wasn't tame then and he sure isn't now.


Here's an essence of Rocky story:

Last year I organized my family's reunion. It was hard, hard, hard work to pull off an event that large; it was like running a small business for a year and Rocky really didn't have a wife for months. He never complained. He was an advisor, the reunion accountant and cheerfully shuttled me and my mother to various meetings. On the day of the reunion banquet I was so exhausted that I lay down (collasped really) to rest before getting dressed in my evening finery. Rocky immediately went into protector mode. I have a vaugue memory of relatives coming to our room door needing various things and hearing R. say, "No you can't talk to Dym, she's trying to sleep. Talk to me." He made change, rustled up extra t-shirts, gave directions, conferred with the banquet manager and straightened out a couple of my wild cousins. He didn't let anyone in to see me or pester me on the phone until the color came back into my cheeks. Forget cards and flowers I thought that was the most romantic thing….