Happy 2nd Eighth Anniversary!!

Andrew and I got married by a justice of the peace on Friday 21 Jun 2002, while we were still on active duty . . . that way we could get orders for a "join-spouse" assignment and be at the same base at the same time. Otherwise, I would've moved on to a new assignment while he remained at his for another 2-3 years. We'd have no guarantee that he'd ever be assigned at my new base any time in the future.

At our justice of the peace ceremony that hot, humid June morning in Fayetteville, NC, we had a few of the guys from Andrew's current unit come out to the courthouse to act as our witnesses. I wore "business" attire - a nice blouse, khaki pants, a black blazer, and black leather shoes. Andrew? He wore jeans and a t-shirt.

After a brief ceremony (it took only minutes), we were officially married; he and I were then off to spend the weekend in the Raleigh-Durham area. We'd window shopped at the nice outdoor shopping area, then went out for a big HUGE Italian dinner at the Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant in Durham. Afterward, we saw a movie, "Lilo and Stitch" (still one of my all-time favorite Disney movies, by the way).

The justice of the peace ceremony, by the way, made the "join-spouse" assignment (same base/same time) a reality after the appropriate personnel received the official marriage certificate. As soon as I got back to my base in Tucson - which means the very next day - the marriage certificate went its merry way to the aforementioned "appropriate personnel."

A few months later, we both got orders to move from our current assignments (mine in Tucson, his in Fayetteville) to our new ones in New England, together -same base, same time frame, but different units.

Later that year, about 3 months after we both settled into the Boston area for our new assignments, we did the "official" church wedding, on Saturday 14 Dec 2002 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. This time we had the guests, the cake, the party . . .

Speaking of cake:

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

My mom and I had been planning the December shin-dig since February 2002, well before the aforementioned justice of the peace ceremony in June.

This time, though I was in the big, fancy, fru-fru dress and veil, and Andrew was finally dressed appropriately in his Mess Dress (the Air Force's formal, fancy tux-like uniform).

Anyway, when the following June 21st approached (the justice of the peace anniversary), I'd made a comment about celebrating our 1st Anniversary (the justice of the peace one). Andrew had already decided we'd just celebrate the church wedding in December. I said no, we'd celebrate both.

The mom of one of our neighbors said, "You'll celebrate both. You never make a woman choose between two anniversaries!"  Her daughter and son-in-law (our neighbors) had done the same thing as we did, and for similar reasons - a quiet, very low-key justice of the peace ceremony first (with just a couple witnesses), and then a few months later the big church wedding with the dress, the Mess Dress, the guests, the church, the cake, etc.

Anyway, here are a few of our many church wedding photos:

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

Me and my 3 awesome bridesmaids! L to R: Dianne, Brenda, me, obviously, and Candi

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

Andrew and his Best Man and the Groomsmen! L to R: Adam (the Best Man), P.J., Andrew, David, Keith

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

During the ceremony, inside the Cathedral:

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

So, there you have it. That's how, with the justice of the peace ceremony and the church wedding, Andrew and I have two anniversaries per year.

And since today's the church anniversary, it's the "2nd Eighth" Anniversary  (the "1st Eighth" Anniversary obviously having been in June).

Most importantly, here is where I'd like to say, "Happy '2nd Eighth' Anniversary, Andrew! Love and kisses!"

Here's a video that I think fits us (make sure your volume's on):


The song is by Ingrid Michaelson, and is called "The Way I Am." (The song/slideshow is off of YouTube.)



And here's the song Andrew and I used for our first dance at our wedding reception:

It's called "You Are My Home," sung by Vanessa Williams and Chayanne.

(This is a fitting video because we took ballroom dancing lessons for nearly 4 years while stationed in the Boston area. This song is from a ballroom dancing movie called "Dance with Me.")