Metal Meredith

And other Anniversary Stories

Phil and I have been married 5 years today. Well, actually at 8pm tonight. Instead of being good children, siblings, or friends, we ran off to Vegas with only a handful of people and got hitched minus the baggage of planning and family. We got married in the Little Church of the West, right on the strip. Neither one of us remembers much. Phil told me later he was mentally kicking himself the whole ceremony for leaving his hat on. I was trying to look happy and excited, coming across as a little more brain dead than eager.

In the hotel, before we left to go to the chapel, I begged and pleaded Phil to bail out. “I will give you the $400 we already paid for the chapel. Come on, we don’t really need to do this, right?” I think I did this all the way down the elevator and to the car. He wouldn’t let me out of it. I still think it was less because he loved me so and more because he would have lost that money.

None the less, we got hitched. Everyone asked me how it felt afterwards. Thankfully, it felt no different from one minute to the next, day after day. It still really feels just as normal as it always had. It just seems so natural to be with him.

About a month ago, I found out Phil had been planning a surprise for me. It took me 2 days to stop being mad that I found out anything, and then I realized how far he has gone to keep it under wraps. To this moment, I still have no idea what it is. Darn if the guy that was never able to keep secrets from me has kept this huge one for months.

Do you know what is worse? He is LOVING it. He is teasing me with bits and pieces but not enough to allow me to figure it out. I have my speculations, although there are only a few people who I have confided in. (side note: I am sure all my friends know and I have no one to talk to about this with. Thank god for internet friends!)

I suppose that this is where I tell you how much I love him, what a good husband and great father he is, how lucky I am to have him…but I am not. Anyone who knows us already knows all this. And I don’t believe in luck as far as Phil goes. I picked him, he allowed himself to be picked. End of story. 

From there, it has been 5 years of laughing, compromises, hard work and fun.

Thanks Phil, but don’t get all cocky with the secrets, buddy.