The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. Every year, I get excited to hang around with friends, refreshing drink in hand, sandals on my feet, reveling in the dog days of Summer. Happy birthday America, indeed.
This "Fourth" was more than the quintessential Summer Independence day gathering for us. The Fourth of July weekend began the countdown to our wedding. We are officially a year away from our own festivities--holy moly! People will actually take me seriously when I tell them the date! (Because when you tell someone your wedding is in July 2011 when 2010 has just started, they seem to think that everything is hypothetical. And to some extent it is.) It was our pre-anniversary, or something along those lines.
Much more important than our countdown, this Independence Day weekend was part of our goodbye. We were really fortunate to be able to spend such a special time together. Chances are, that weekend was the last holiday we will spend with each other for a while. We stood in downtown Wilmington, our eyes facing the sky, enjoying the fireworks display together. And I think it was then that we started to feel the weight of that moment. My eyes welled up for a second as I nearly let my emotions take over. Yes there was sadness. But there was also pride in the Bear; he's doing what he loves and what he feels is his duty. And then I was overjoyed to celebrate with my love. So I tried to soak every part of it in, and maybe another time, I'll bore you with the details.
A little less than a year to go now. Hoping, praying, and generally willing that we'll be together for the next Fourth of July, and for our wedding.
All photos are personal, unless otherwise noted.
Hello from WB!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about people actually caring about your date... We're a couple of weeks from the one year point, and all of a sudden people don't make it sound like it's years away.
On the other hand, goodbyes suck.
I'm a fellow Fourth-lover! I worked on the fourth this year, and I hate working the fourth at the hospital. DEPRESSING. (I work at a veterans hospital).
ReplyDeleteceamoste - Congrats on the one year! (at least in a couple weeks)
ReplyDeletelifeinwhite - Wow, I can't imagine how sad it would be to not only work on the Fourth but to work at a vets hospital. So sad to think that some of the people that helped make the Fourth so special can't enjoy it.