The Long Cut ...we'll get there eventually: Give To Me Your Textiles, Take From Me My Lace

Thirteen years ago today the missus officially became the missus (and I her beloved). Thirteen doesn't really strike me as a lucky number to celebrate, but I did wear the number 13 for most of my little league career and that didn't turn out too... okay, bad example. And in some ways, thirteen years doesn't even really seem like such a long time. The Phillies were in the World Series thirteen years ago and that seems like only yester... okay, another bad example.

Onthisday The missus surprised me with plans on staying overnight in Philly Saturday night (way, way, way down on the cheap) and we ended up - honest to God - not only in a room that overlooked the Phillies ballpark, but in a room that overlooked the Phillies ball park and had a "Bill Clinton Slept Here" plaque on the door. Holiday Inn Stadium, room 1018, tell them Mark sent you.

Now, how sad is it that when I saw that I would be sleeping in the same room in which the greatest president of my generation (I know that ain't saying much, but still) had also slept, my first thought was, "Jeez, I hope they changed the sheets." And I like the guy. With friends like me, who needs Hillary?

But back to the anniversary. The reason we stayed in South Philly was due to the Broad Street Run - which was Sunday and which I have been training for for the last four months and which ends up in South Philly. So no lazy Sunday brunch - since I had to leave the hotel at 6:30am to get to the start - and for dinner Saturday night, after discussing it for way too long, we actually settled on, pathetically, driving back into Jersey for cheap plain pasta (the traditional carb-loading pre-race dinner). We ended up at Pizzeria Uno, which - surprise! - doesn't serve plain spaghetti. Or any plain pasta. I had to make due with plain grilled chicken and the carbs in my rice pilaf and breadsticks. [I plan on posting about the race once my quads stop screaming at me. Please stop screaming at me.]

So we only ended up with a few quality hours, but it was still great to get away and relax. I think we were able to hit the reset button while we were there. Clear our heads and reconnect a little. For the sake of my blog-reading siblings, I'll stop there - at the word "reconnect." Re-connect, people.

Okay, for real now, back to the anniversary. The eight-year-old made us dinner - some apple/peanut butter/pita/banana thing from Rachel Ray's kids cookbook that he thought was from the dinner section but was actually from the snack aisle. The extremely sweet section of the snack aisle. Then for dessert he made us these orange juice and orange sherbet drinks with an orange slice on the rim. It was very, um, orange-y. Not the most healthful meal, but at least it didn't taste bad. I'll take unhealthy over awful any day.

After dinner we all watched our wedding video. The boys were enraptured:

The eight-year-old: "Can I get on the computer?"

The four-year-old: "I don't know what to playyyyyyy."

For like the first five years of our marriage we would watch this video every May 8th. Then we didn't, mainly because we got sick of the hour-long homily in the middle of the thing. But now, after not watching it for so long - seeing the friends who had dropped out of touch (no lie - the last time I saw one of my ushers, a one-time "best friend" of mine, was at our reception), and the other couples who are no longer together (I spotted at least one pre-divorce couple), and the horrible fashions that thankfully have changed (like my cringe-worthy humongo glasses - why don't people tell you when you look bad?), and all the people who aren't even alive anymore - made me realize that thirteen years is a pretty long time. A lot has changed since 1993 and we're still together. We have changed a lot since 1993, and we're still together.

So, happy anniversary, Dee. Maybe we should start watching that wedding video again (except - you know - the homily part, of course).

[Post title decoded here].

Comments

Happy belated anniversary!

I caught a glimpse of your finish time in the Daily News. What's that work out to, about 7:20? I don't know how that is for you, but back when I used to run, 7:20 per on a ten-miler would have been spectacular, especially with my knees. (For a five-miler, I used to be good for about six even, but I never cracked 8 on a ten-miler.)

But just think, if you'd been running the Baghdad version of the Broad Street run, you would have placed top ten...

Posted by: howard | 2006.05.09 at 12:55 AM

Happy Anniversary!! I'd love to watch that video one day with maybe 5 minutes of the homily. By weird coincidence, just last evening, I was looking thru some random pics Mom had sitting around and found one of your reception. Oh and I got a early phone call on Sunday from Dee boasting about her Bill Clinton room.

SHE tactfully refrained from any talk of 'reconnecting', thankyouverymuch.

Posted by: Donna | 2006.05.09 at 07:32 AM