Thursday, June 25, 2009

Fifteen Years Together

Fifteen years ago today, Jeff and I got married.

Christy and Jeff ~ June 25, 1994

We were young.

(Would you believe I was only 13? No? Well, it was worth a shot.)

We were in love.

And life was very, very good.

Little did we know what God in store for us when we joined hands and said, "I do" on that day.


OK, we're married. So now what?

Since then we've lived abroad, each earned an advanced degree, owned two homes, built careers, traveled a lot, had a family, and dealt with both good times and bad. Fortunately, the good has far outweighed the bad.

If you ask anyone who came to our wedding and reception, they will tell you what they most remember is the "Bag Dance."

In fact, a friend of mine from college sent me an email just the other day saying the she thought of that and laughed at the memory. (Hi, Donna!)

"What," you ask, "is the Bag Dance?"

Well, it looks like this:


This is one of my favorite pictures from my wedding day!

My brother-in-law Kyle pulled this one on me. He'd only been married into our family for a short time, and since he wasn't a blood relation, I TRUSTED HIM. That was the last time I made that mistake!

WARNING: Do NOT try this on a bride or groom who do not have a sense of humor. You will not have fond memories of the day that make everyone laugh. And I do not want to be responsible for the ensuing umpteen years of, "Remember that awful joke..." that you will be subjected to.

So, back to the dance. Kyle had the wedding party all come to the dance floor. We were all given brown paper bags, and the rules of the game were that we were to put the bags on our heads and dance around until we ran into another person. Then we could take our bags off and sit down.

I thought it sounded like fun! I'm sure the champagne may have had something to do with my enthusiasm.

The music started and we all did as instructed. Except everyone else had been briefed beforehand to remove their bags and walk off the dance floor, leaving me to groove on my own.

Which I did.

And did.

And did.

The whole while I was under that bag yelling, "Where is everyone?"

I couldn't hear a thing over all the screaming and clapping from all our guests. I thought that was just to throw off the dancers.

Finally, I figured that if anyone could cheat, it was the bride, so I took my bag off and realized everyone was screaming with laughter.



Check out everyone's faces. We are all howling with laughter!

I love that everyone who was there had a great time and that Jeff and I are still married and laughing about this 15 years later.

So many things have changed in 15 years. Dreams have been realized, priorities have changed, waistlines, hairlines, and hometowns have shifted. But so many things haven't changed.

We are still young.

We are still in love.

And life is still very, very good.

Alex, Amelia, Isaac and Sam with Mom ~ June 2008

8 comments:

your sis~ Mary said...

HAPPY ANIVERSARY!! I HAVE A FEW FOND MEMORIES OF YOUR WEDDING AND THE BAG DANCE IS DEFINATELY ONE OF THEM! HERES TO MANY MANY MORE YEARS TOGETHER AND I HOPE YOU MAINTAIN YOUR SENSE I HUMOR I HAVE A FEELING YOU WILL BE NEEDING IT!

monica said...

Great wedding pictures. Oh the bag dance is priceless!

roztime said...

Happy Anniversary!! I also share your day - although mine's only for 5 years. Congrats on your beautiful family, inside & out!

Amy Lore said...

What a beautiful dress you had! And happiest of happy anniversaries:).

Anonymous said...

You are blessed beyond measure. May God continue to bless you as he already has! Amy R.

Pam said...

Happy Anniversary!

Donna said...

Thank you for bringing those photos out:) I remember that day like it was yesterday. Oh, and now I remember the name of "your song"....My Companion....well, I believe that is it. Anyway, Hi:) Thanks for the shout-out:) love and miss you!

Mrs. Flakey Flakes said...

De-Lurking to say that bag dance is the funniest thing I have ever heard of. I just had such a good laugh and after being up half the night with my triplets last night....well that was just a good laugh!