I Do!

Not too long ago, Jesse and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary together. I can't express how lucky I feel some days when I think of the cutie on the corner that I just happened to meet one afternoon in Sicily, Italy. Of course at the time, I didn't know I'd marry him. In fact, sometimes I question what I was thinking when I got in the car with three strangers, all of whom were guys, when they offered my friend, Jenn and I a ride back into Catania so we wouldn't have to continue waiting for a bus! Maybe I just wasn't thinking all that much. Maybe that's what it takes sometimes! If it's too hard or too much work to try and make it work, maybe it's not meant to be.

Believe me, we had to work very hard to keep up a long distance relationship, which at the time was an internationally long distance relationship, pre-special cell phone plans, pre-Skype, and...I didn't even have an email account (outside of the school one) when I met him! Somehow, we made it work because we were committed to each other and the goal of one day being together...and that commitment is what made the rest of it easier.

Here's the rundown of our anniversaries:
1st: I was very sick and we were in a hotel in the Frankfurt airport, waiting to fly to Phoenix for my brother's wedding.
2nd: We went to a restaurant in Weinheim, La Cave. Ahhhh...loved it!
3rd: We went to dinner in Fayetteville, but I don't remember where. I do know that we were into our fourth week in a hotel, waiting for our household goods and we had just closed on the house.
4th: I have no idea!
5th: Alone in separate countries. (I invited friends to go out to dinner with me.)
6th: Alone in separate countries. (I was pregnant and can't remember what, if anything that I did.)
7th: Alone in separate countries. (I went out for sushi with my brother and his wife in AZ.)
8th: Together once again!

Since plans for Jesse to be gone weren't going anywhere, he decided to fly out to Arizona for a week, which included our anniversary! He bought us tickets to the ASU Homecoming Game against UC Boulder, who just joined the PAC-12. I haven't been to an ASU game since I went there and I never sat on the opposite side of the field. Interestingly enough, I went to a UC Boulder game in CO last year. That was Fletcher's first football game. So, I've been to more UC games than ASU ones in the last couple years!

Here's good ol' Palo Verde East, my old residence, right on University Drive in Tempe.

We took a walk down Palm Walk to visit the bookstore and stock up on new ASU gear.

Then we went back by my dorm and walked to the stadium...the same path taken so many times!

It was quite different attending a game as a pregnant married mother than a single college student!

I was glad to see that Sparky still has a spot around there.

And the Fork everywhere is a nice addition.

I bought Jesse a deep tissue massage, during which he learned how messed up his body was and returned the next day for the therapist to continue work on him. Don't worry...I got a pedicure and a prenatal massage for myself.

Also, Jesse was always very upset after our wedding because he only got one bite of our cake...the piece I fed him when we cut it. The staff cut pieces and placed them out all over the room, even at empty seats and then just tossed out what was left. In addition, the next day they couldn't find the sheet cake that we had left in the fridge. So, I've always intended to order a small cake of the same flavor from the same bakery if we were ever back home and it worked out. I was finally able to do it this year. So, we enjoyed cake as well.

We actually had a lavendar cake at our wedding, but when the girl called to see if there was a color from our wedding that she could incorporate into this little one, I told her lavendar or eggplant and she said that she just told her colleague that she'd bet anything that it was purple. I guess 8 out of 10 weddings they do right now have purple on the cake. So...I guess that means I was ahead of the trend!

In addition to the cake, we ordered German from Haus Murphy's, where we had our rehearsal dinner. (We had to order take out because Fletcher had just gotten sick everywhere at my mom's.) When my dad and Jesse went to pick it up, the hostess got to talking with them and when Jesse said we had our rehearsal dinner there 8 years ago around the same time of year, the hostess said, "Oh...was it Anna's rehearsal dinner?" My dad said she remembered me. I told him it's probably because they had to listen to my terrible singing when I sang to Jesse at the restaurant!

Finally, we went on a date night. Or a date matinee, I should say. We went to AMC Esplanade 14 by the Biltmore, where they now have a bar and eat-in theatres. We sat in the recliners, ate, and watched Money Ball. Then we stopped at The Cheesecake Factory and grabbed some slices of cheesecake to take home. My brother was nice enough to watch Fletcher and his two kids for us that afternoon.

I'd like to think that if I ever went back to that street corner and Jesse and his friends pulled up and asked if we needed a ride, I would once again say, "I Do!"

(That's not technically the conversation we had, but you can look that story up for yourself or hear it another day!)