Thanks to my very hard-working and brave mother-in-law and a few donated plane tickets, Jimmy and I set off for Boston to celebrate fifteen years of wedded bliss. We chose Boston because it was a big city neither of us had been to before, was far enough away to warrant a plane ticket but not so far that we'd spend too much of our precious time on a plane. We chose wisely. The weather was gorgeous enough to spend three full days walking running, sight-seeing and touring the city outside the whole time. Jimmy held his morning "boot camp", which actually turned out to be a pretty awesome way to see the sights. Our first run took us through Boston Common, along the harbor and up Beacon Hill and also earned us our first visit to a local coffee shop. We made a vow to each other that we wouldn't succumb to any of the Starbucks that covered every street corner and instead made it our mission to leave with a favorite local shop - Peet's in Cambridge was the winner! The only time we used any transportation other than our own two feet was when we took the train to Harvard. Jimmy was all pumped to run to Harvard, then run through Harvard, but I had to be the wet blanket on that party. I'll admit that Harvard wasn't as stately and beautiful as I had expected it to be and Cambridge won for most unhelpful and uppity locals, but it is home to Peets, so it will always hold a special place in my heart.
When we weren't running and drinking coffee, we were touristing it up walking along the Freedom Trail checking out old cemeteries (tearing up over the young couple who buried four babies in four years), admiring beautiful churches, imagining the passionate meetings that took place beneath our feet as the Great Revolt was planned and looking for ghosts who apparently wreak havoc in the old city.
We also had to pace ourselves and carefully plan our meals so as to be certain to squeeze in all of the necessary restaurant stops. We hit pretty much every genre of food, from our French dinner at La Voile (where the owner, literally, moved his entire restaurant - equipment, tables, chairs, staff! - from France and reopened in Boston), to our Italian dinner at Dolce Vita in Little Italy, where Uncle Franco stood out on the sidewalk to welcome his people as they arrived to eat the most ridiculously amazing pasta ever made. We had beers in the oldest tavern in America, pizza at Regina Pizzeria - the best in Boston - and cannolis at Mike's Pastry. We spent almost an hour with Rachel, an older woman who has run a little pharmacy with her husband for the last 40 years. She taught us how to use our favorite souvenir (our Italian coffee maker) and directed us to her friends (the Polcari family) down the road for some suitable espresso.
Except for the time I packed Jimmy's bag for him and grabbed the disinfectant contact solution instead of the saline solution and it tried to burn his eyeball off when he inserted his contact at 6am and, because he's really sweet and thoughtful and knew that it is no vacation if I am awakened before 8am, navigated his own way blindly (with a burned eyeball) through the crowded streets to find a drugstore and then pawed around on the floor of the store as he (blindly) searched for saline and then held up the entire checkout line as he (blindly) tried to make his purchase, it was the best vacation I could imagine.
Fifteen years, six babies, lots of life lived (fun life and not-so-fun life) and I like him more today than I did on that day when we promised "forever". And while we probably won't be married in Heaven, we will get to live through eternity together because of our love for Jesus and that's a pretty wonderful thought. That's our Happily Ever After.
Here's to a sweet fifteen years and the hope of many more to come!
When we weren't running and drinking coffee, we were touristing it up walking along the Freedom Trail checking out old cemeteries (tearing up over the young couple who buried four babies in four years), admiring beautiful churches, imagining the passionate meetings that took place beneath our feet as the Great Revolt was planned and looking for ghosts who apparently wreak havoc in the old city.
We also had to pace ourselves and carefully plan our meals so as to be certain to squeeze in all of the necessary restaurant stops. We hit pretty much every genre of food, from our French dinner at La Voile (where the owner, literally, moved his entire restaurant - equipment, tables, chairs, staff! - from France and reopened in Boston), to our Italian dinner at Dolce Vita in Little Italy, where Uncle Franco stood out on the sidewalk to welcome his people as they arrived to eat the most ridiculously amazing pasta ever made. We had beers in the oldest tavern in America, pizza at Regina Pizzeria - the best in Boston - and cannolis at Mike's Pastry. We spent almost an hour with Rachel, an older woman who has run a little pharmacy with her husband for the last 40 years. She taught us how to use our favorite souvenir (our Italian coffee maker) and directed us to her friends (the Polcari family) down the road for some suitable espresso.
Except for the time I packed Jimmy's bag for him and grabbed the disinfectant contact solution instead of the saline solution and it tried to burn his eyeball off when he inserted his contact at 6am and, because he's really sweet and thoughtful and knew that it is no vacation if I am awakened before 8am, navigated his own way blindly (with a burned eyeball) through the crowded streets to find a drugstore and then pawed around on the floor of the store as he (blindly) searched for saline and then held up the entire checkout line as he (blindly) tried to make his purchase, it was the best vacation I could imagine.
Fifteen years, six babies, lots of life lived (fun life and not-so-fun life) and I like him more today than I did on that day when we promised "forever". And while we probably won't be married in Heaven, we will get to live through eternity together because of our love for Jesus and that's a pretty wonderful thought. That's our Happily Ever After.
Here's to a sweet fifteen years and the hope of many more to come!