The Seven Year Hitch

Be forewarned; you are about to be "O.D'd" with our wedding "pitchers".This week marks the passage of seven years that we've been married. (Actually, we did it twice) Now whatcha got here is the very first picture taken of us 8 years ago. It was Cappy's family reunion/"jambalaya". What a huggable 'pony-tailed' teddybear he was. He still is. We made it through our first Christmas, still so happy and my extreme willingness to become a 'danged' Yankee (one that won't go back north) that we decided to make it permanent. I really never liked the bitter cold, but kinda missed the snow at Christmas time. Uhhh...I got used to the warm balmy Christmas holidays vey quickly:-)

So...June 29, 2002, for the family reunion/"jambalaya", under the gaudy red and white circus tent which had been rented every year, we got 'hitched' "in front of God and everybody" as Cappy is wont to say. His whole family showed up to see, I guess, if he'd actually go through with it or not. He was 44, never been married or had any kids; their 'confirmed' bachelor was getting married!?! It was a lot of fun. Bib overall shorts for the bride. A shirt and shorts for Cappy that I had made myself...I mean, come on...how much more trashy can ya get? Before I came down the aisle of the tent, Cappy's grandmother made him put his shoes on, instead of being the bare-footed boy he'd always been. Just as the justice of the peace was about to begin, she looked up from her book and snatched Cappy's straw hat from off his head. LOL, what a couple of Rubes we were.What made it more special to me was the fact that daughter, Jennifer (Sookie) was on the phone, in my ear the whole time, listening and commenting. It was almost as though she were here. Sadly, at the time it just wasn't possible for family from western NY to attend in person.

The next time Cappy got off the boat, we got a puppy. All within a month, he had aquired a wife and a dawg. SparkyBear the Brat, the dawg he's always wanted all his life, but never could have, being on the boat and all.

As soon as the annulment went through, we quietly got married again. At the time we didn't want to bother going through a big huge "fancy" wedding. We loved our delightfully tacky wedding that we'd had in our own yard. The church wedding was of necessity, more solemn and respectful. Son, Dan was there as one of our witnesses, along with our friend, Pam.

A couple of years later, we got MarkyBear, SparkyBear's mischievous, messy little brother, caught in the act of nosing around in crawfish chimneys in the yard. He grew up fast and quickly became whom we call, Jabba da Pup, or Cowwwwboy, or da Pig. SparkyBear is dwarfed in the back there.

So, that's our little family. The Cappy and Pegody world. Seven years. Seven Wonderful years, I might add. We are each other's best friends and confidants. It's kind of strange, tho; we see things almost mirror image in a lot of ways. For instance, Cappy will tell me his ideas for our Christmas cards, so I'll draw them out. When he comes home and sees them, he's delighted, but puzzled that they are laid out on the opposite side of the card. I say all this to explain the anniversary gifts we got one another this year. If you read the post about the great attic cleanout, you know we are trying to keep an handle on clutter in our little house, so have to keep all that in mind whenever we buy anything. We like to buy each other fun things, and give it a lot of thought. Well, I don't know how much more polarized our gifts could have been. One from deep inside the earth and one from outer space (kinda/sorta). Last year Cappy had gotten me what we lovingly refer to as a "box of rocks". Raw mined emeralds. This year he found a necklace with precious emeralds, each completely exposed and polished; each with it's own unique personality. Twenty carats total with gold chain interlocking them. I love the weight of it and the way it hangs around my neck. I feel soooo good wearing it! Is that man wonderful or what? He managed to order it from out on his boat.

I usually find him something he loves, too, such as series of books about tall ships or science fiction, or CD's...he loves the Blues! This year, he opened his gift to find...uhm...six authentic United States astronaut ice cream sandwiches. Kinda "off"...kinda strange...kinda weird. But...unique. They can't get ice cream very often out on his boat...he loves anything NASA...soooo. I'm glad he said he thought it was great.

It's been an amazing seven years being hitched to my best friend.

So where is he? My beloved faithful husband? He's out with his buddy, Sam, whose wife, Louise, is in Tennessee spoiling the grandbabies. (lucky girl)Sam just retired today after a long successful career working as a 'head honcho' up on the River. I'm ashamed that he's told me more than one time exactly what he did and for how long...but you know by now that I tend to blonduh out sometimes. But he is well-respected and well-loved. People have been having parties for him and inviting him over today. We can't tell you how honored we are that he joined us today, too, so that we could be a part of his celebration. I gave the guys their space so they could be "guys"...but....

do you know what our guys are doing to celebrate??? They are out trying to get a couple of chicks drunk, that's what they are doing.

(...and they have my approval:-)

Ohhhh, I think I'll keep him, and sign me up for another seven years...as Cappy would say, "Oh,what da heck".