Dear Wifester,

Two years ago today, I emerged from my hotel room all dressed in white to find you all dressed in black, as polished and charming as the first day I ever laid eyes on your beautiful smiling face. Hand in hand, we headed to the chapel and said our "I do's" with trembling knees and trembling voices.
We laughed because you were so nervous you said "With this wing, I thee wed..."
I no longer laugh at that, because I know that on that day, you did give me wings. You gave me wings that allowed me to soar above the adversity, the fear, and the insecurity that have always kept me grounded.

With that wing, you gave me a new life.
I am a better person today for having known you, for having loved you, and for having married you. We are better people together than either of us could have imagined we could have ever been.
Two years ago today, you and I stood hand in hand and announced before the chaplain, the witness, and your parents that we would love and honor each other for all the days of our lives.
It seemed a little bit scary at the time. A little bit overwhelming, to be honest. But I knew in my heart of hearts that if there were ever anyone in this world that I would want to spend the rest of my life with, it would be you.
I never really believed too much in marriage before you came along. With it originating as a barter system, with women as the collateral, I never wanted to be an object to buy, sell, or trade.
Our marriage is so far from that, so far from what I ever thought marriage was.
I love that you are my best friend, my confidant, and my muse.
I love that I can tell you anything, absolutely anything and you'll never waver in your love for me and vice-versa.

Today, my love, I want you to know how very much I love you with all my heart and soul.
How grateful I am to have you in my life and how very, very much I adore you.
When I hear people dismiss marriage, or make snide remarks about their spouses, I think about what you and I share and I think how sad I am for them that they don't know the same unconditional, unwavering, and omnipotent love that you and I have.
I loved you long before I admited it to you, I loved you long before we said "I do" and I'll love you long beyond any modern measurement of time can allow.
With each passing day, each passing year, I grow to know you, respect you, understand you, and therefore love you more and more and ever more.
And that is why I say,
Today, more than yesterday, yet only half as much as tomorrow, I love you!


XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

My worthy opponent and WWC

When I first met Macey, I can remember saying, " She is a worthy opponent." She held up banter well and was able to match wits in the most peculiar way. She made me smile with her charm and intelligence. She read me like a book in a way no one had ever done before: familiar, and steady. I was instantly at home in her arms and I knew beyond a doubt that with her is where I was supposed to be for a very, very long time. I I knew I'd found love.

This weekend Macey and I went to the Smokey Mountains and stayed in a cabin near Gatlinburg and celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary. We had a beautiful time and a beautiful view from our balcony:

which housed the jacuzzi that I didn't want to leave behind. Who am I kidding? I didn't want to leave the cabin behind. I tried to pitch the most convincing campaign that I could possibly muster for our moving in immediately.




I campaigned hard for quitting our jobs and moving to the mountains, becoming a couple of mountain women and one mountain sun-dog. Then we ventured out. We made our way down the mountain and into town, where, unbeknownst to us, a hot rod car show was under way for the duration of the weekend,OUR weekend.

I wouldn't have minded the car show so much, had it been in a singular location, this however was spread fully across all of Pigeon Forge, causing the travel time to be 2 hours to go from Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg, that's 2 HOURS on a 7 MILE stretch of highway! It was absolutely crazy. I saw more rebel flags and mullets than I've ever seen in any one spot. Except that one time that I had to travel through Alabama and stopped at a little country gas station, then promptly decided to keep on going; me with my rainbow "Dyke Pride" sticker in my back window shining like a "kick me" sign on my back in the school yard. What was I thinking, anyways? Nowhere, Alabama is no place for a couple of dykes with rainbows and queer pride stickers, it was like some Gynocentric version of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Rebel flags and mullets aside, I enjoyed reconnecting with my wife. I enjoyed the escape from our everyday life, and I enjoyed the scenery of the Smokey Mountains. I had fun going into Gatlinburg and being a tourist for a day. I felt really sad for the area, though. Like it's lost it's soul. A million stores selling the same ole' thing in each and every one. I found you have to get out of Gatlinburg, into the meat and potatoes of the smokies to see the beauty. Otherwise, you've got a tourist trap with nothing but shop after shop of the same old crap and so many cars and engines being revved that you can smell the imminent threat of carbon monoxide poisioning from the cloud that surrounds each and every car's exhaust like a little cumulus of death. I didn't find quite what I expected to find, but what I did find was a wonderful little pancake place, a beautiful cabin, some scenic vistas, and a renewed connection with the love of my life. I think it all worked out perfectly fine.

Now, on to the WWC...

Tink, of Pickled Beef, gave us a tricky little feat to accomplish this week... tisk, tisk, Tink! She made me have to get out my thinking cap. She asked us to capture our interpretations of

Wind

&

Five

quite a challenge, for me at least. Here's mine.

and here's some bonus Gatlinburg photos

Tink has set up a Flickr group for the WWC so check that out too! flickr's free to join, so why not?

Oh yeah, and
Happy Earth Day Everyone! I've committed myself to cleaning up the litter in my neighborhood,
what's your commitment?