I remember it like it was yesterday. It was June 24, 2006. It had rained earlier that morning and now in the evening, it was still slightly humid and oh, so hot. I was the only one left in the house, well, except for the man waiting to open the sliding glass door for me. Everyone else was in the back yard that overlooked the lake. They were all seated and waiting…waiting for me.
I should have been nervous. I was fixing to walk down several stairs to reach the back yard. If you’re aware of my track record with clumsiness, you would know that I had every right to be nervous. Everyone would be watching my descent. But, amazingly enough, I wasn’t nervous. I was excited and happy.
You see… I was fixing to walk down the steps to my very own fairy tale wedding and marry my prince. My life was about to change in ways that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
As I stepped out to the music that announced my arrival, I am almost certain that my face could have lit up a dark room. Aaron waited for me at the end of the runner and as I took his hand and we exchanged vows, nothing else in the world mattered.
It’s been a crazy nine years. Aaron and I have been through so many things. We have had many highs and there have been lows. I can’t imagine my life any other way, though.If you had asked me nine years ago if we were planning on a child, my answer would have been no. Not because I didn’t want a child, I just didn’t think it was in the plans for us.
God had different plans and for that I am extremely thankful. When we were making plans for our anniversary dinner date last week, we decided we didn’t want to leave Kiera out. She was so excited to go on our date.
We decided we would go to a local Japanese steakhouse for dinner. Kiera made sure that anyone who smiled in our direction knew that we were celebrating our anniversary.
As we sat down, Kiera begin to ask questions about the way the food was going to be prepared. Aaron explained to her how they cooked on the grill that we sat in front of. We each settled on our dishes and the cook began to prep our food on the grill.
The waiter brought out Kiera’s drink. Now, if you have never had a Japanese soda, let me fill you in. The soda is in a glass bottle. Inside the bottle is a marble. Aaron can give you better details about it, but suffice it to say, you poke a hole in the top and carbonation mixes in the soda. Now, the little marble in the bottle is complex. It does not come out. It does not fall in the soda. It just sits in the middle of the bottle. No big deal for a normal person, but for an OCD four-year old… well, there was a 15-minute discussion on why the marble could and would not come out. There was also a plan formed about taking the bottle home and extracting the marble.
Thankfully, the waiter brought our soup out and the marble topic was dropped. Kiera scooped up a spoonful of soup and took a sip. She abruptly turned her nose up at the taste. I hid a smile as I ate my soup. I thought it was very yummy. It had thin, almost transparent slivers of vegetables.
After taking a drink, Kiera peered in at her soup. She looked at one of the thin slivers and asked in a not so quiet voice, “Are there flies in there?”
This is the craziness in my life. I quickly swallowed my soup that I had just spooned into my mouth and hushed her. “No, honey. Those are not flies. That’s a mushroom.”
Thankfully, no one else at the table appeared to have heard her. If our cook heard, he did not let on.
She pushed her bowl to the side. I picked up my salad and handed it to her. “Would you like some of my salad?” I asked.
Kiera smiled and took the small bowl of salad. She reached in and picked out a cherry tomato. As she handed it to me, she said, “Here… put this in your soup.”
I quickly palmed the tomato and stuck it under the ridge of my plate just as the cook finished our main course and plated it.
“This is the best chicken ever!” Kiera exclaimed after taking a bite. I breathed a sigh of relief that I would not be asked to stuff chicken in my soup.
We made it through the rest of the “date” without any more incidents. Which, honestly, for us, is a huge feat.
Nine years ago, I never imagined the turns my life has taken. Nine years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined having dinner with my prince and our four year-old little girl. I definitely did not envision me sitting at a restaurant convincing my child that we were eating mushrooms and not flies.
But, now that I am here, every moment is the best moment. Even the ones that have me considering hiding under a table.
