ten thousand days

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That’s a photo from my wedding day, thirty years ago today. I pulled it out of an album, scanned it, and then adjusted the color, taking out the yellowed tone of the old paper with a simple click of my mouse button.  I still have my wedding dress, I don’t know why, it was certainly nothing fancy. I bought it off the rack, I couldn’t see spending a lot of money for a dress I’d wear for only one afternoon. I’ve moved it many times over the years, from house to house and closet to closet. Like the photos from our wedding day, it’s yellowed and a bit faded and I don’t know how many times I’ve picked it up and began to stuff it in a bag for donation, but I could never quite bring myself to do it. My mother saved the dress she wore that day too, she loved that dress. Near the end of her life, after illness caused her to lose enough weight so she could fit into it once more, she asked me to find it just in case an occasion came up for her to wear it again.

I’ve been married for thirty years, in a matter of days I’ll become a first time grandmother, in September I’ll celebrate my fiftieth birthday. Looking down at my hands as I type this post I see my mother’s hands. The skin is beginning to get that crepey loose look to it and the truth is it surprises me to think that those hands are attached to my body. I suppose if I could I wouldn’t mind clicking my mouse button and tightening up a few things, perhaps doing away with some wrinkles here and there while I’m at it. But you know, there’s not one day from the past ten thousand days with my husband that I would change. The good days, and even the not so good days, are strung out behind us like the tail of a kite, steadying our marriage and keeping us on course. I guess that’s why I hang on to my little yellowed wedding dress, and why my mother kept her favorite dress stashed in the back of her closet for so many years. They carry the footprints of our memories, a diary of new beginnings and of slim healthy young bodies, of ten thousand more days stretched out in front of us like so many promises.

Happy Anniversary Mr. bookbabie, there’s no one else I’d rather crawl in bed with at the end of a long, tiring day…See other Wordless (and not so wordless!) Wednesday participants here.

18 thoughts on “ten thousand days”

  1. What a great photo. Congratulations on 30 years.
    My mom kept her dress in a trash bag stuffed in the top of the closet. On the day before we went shopping for my own wedding dress she brought it out and I tried it on. And decided to wear it myself! Wasn’t what I would have chosen in a store, but it meant so much more. Wedding dresses have such a special place in our hearts. Thanks for bringing back some happy memories for me 🙂

  2. Wonderful post! Very endearing! Happy Anniversary. There is no way that I would part with my wedding dress either…and I got it 2nd hand!

  3. I love what you say about your experiences being like kite strings. What a very cool way to put it… LOVE this post! and the picture too!

  4. Thanks for the beautiful posting on your blog. It made me cry. Happy Anniversary. Love you always….

  5. Happy o’ Happy Anniversary to you both!

    great photo. Just read some of your Twitter-ings… love the lemon aid stand.

    Cheers.

  6. I appreciate what you said about your hands. That’s so true, isn’t it? I catch my mother’s image sometimes in my profile and think, when did this happen? But in a good way!

    Happy WW and thanks for visiting my blog. Oh, and happy anniversary, too!

  8. Well. I am so glad that you stopped in over at my place and that I then stopped in here for a visit. I will be married 31 years in July, my wedding gown hangs on a dress stand in our bedroom, and my son and DIL are having a baby in 6 weeks. My daughter had twin babies five months ago so I am totally enjoying being a grammie. Glad I stopped in and I will be back. Happy Anniversary!

  9. Happy Anniversary! This is such a nice post, your husband is a luck man.

    Thanks for commenting on my WW post today!

  10. What a wonderful picture and post! Happy anniversary! We are celebrating our 22nd this year. Time sure flies by, doesn’t it?

    I still have my wedding dress, too. I know my daughters won’t choose it, but that is fine.

    Loved this post and picture!

    Thanks for visiting my blog and your comment!

  11. Your post made me very emotional because I’m feeling a lot of the same things you are right now. I do not look my age at all but I certainly feel it some days. I love wedding photos and I’m glad you shared yours. Happy WW.

  12. Happy Anniversary!

    My, your post brought it back for me. I’ve been married 30 years since January and 50 years old since February. My dress is hanging in the back of the closet, and has hung in many closets over many miles. LOL I feel many miles old. I know what you mean looking at your hands. I remember my mom at my age and I wonder what in the heck happened with me getting to this age. I almost can’t believe it is me.

    Beautiful wedding photo and enjoyable post. 🙂

  16. That is a great post… my wife and I have only been married for 4 years and she has already gotten out her dress to give it away several times and has never done it. I didn’t really understand why until now. Thank you.

  17. What a beautiful celebratory post. Congratulations on such a successful marriage.

    I loved your comment: “I suppose if I could I wouldn’t mind clicking my mouse button and tightening up a few things, perhaps doing away with some wrinkles here and there while I’m at it” ~ I feel that way too (I’m 56 now). But if it is any consolation, the older one gets the more one realises that if you have good health, and love and are loved ~ the rest is just window dressing.

    So celebrate 50 in style! Many people never get there, and in my opinion you look fantastic anyway.

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