In a horrific showing of the passing of time, my ten year wedding anniversary is this year. Ten years. Call me Rip van Curley, but I can’t figure out how a) ten years have passed and b) how I’m old enough to have been married for ten years. And have two children.
Well, part of that is due to the fact I was 20 when I got married. I recall feeling very old and independent at 20. Looking back, I’m like, “Dude, you were 20. Just a baby!”
And now I’m 30 and somebody’s mother. Two somebodies mother!
Anyway, back before we had children, debt, responsibility, real jobs, that kind of thing, we dreamed about spending our ten year anniversary in Italy. Unless we divorce and remarry rich people by this summer, that’s not going to happen.
I suggested Gettysburg. Because, as you may have noticed, if it’s celebratory or a day ending in the letter Y, we’re going to spend it there.
To my horror, The Hubs said, “No.” His rationale was that we are going to be in Gettysburg for the reenactment in July, so we should spend our anniversary somewhere else.
I said, “But we could stay in a nice bed and breakfast right on the battlefield and eat at a nice restaurant. During the reenactment we’re going to be sleeping in the back of the SUV and eating peanut butter sandwiches. And not showering for a week.
He said, “I know. Isn’t that romantic?”
No.
I countered with Antietam. He said no.
He countered with Fredericksburg/Chancellorsville/Manassas. I said no.
I countered with a cruise. He said no.
He countered with Biloxi, Mississippi for a week on the beach. I said no, we can’t afford that.
He said, fine, we can’t afford anything so we won’t do anything. We’ll eat at Applebee’s and call it a night.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Applebee’s. But no.
So, I bided my time and brought it up again last week. And he said, “Look, I’m sure anywhere good is booked now.”
I said, “I bet you’re wrong.”
And we booked our trip to Gettysburg two hours later.
Triumph!
My summer is getting booked solid. Darn solid. Like, Channing Tatum abs solid. Weddings. Bridal showers. Reunions. Reenactments. Trips to Gettysburg. The writing conference (though, technically that’s in the spring). It’s going to be epic. And tiring.
Meanwhile, I finished editing the first chapter of my novel. I mean, hard copy editing with my awesome pink editing pen edit. I’ve high level edited almost 20 out of 34 chapters (plus an epilogue). This accomplishment makes me feel:
1. Excited. As in, holy cow that is 100 times better than I ever thought it could be! I seriously wrote that?
Which immediately turns into:
2. Holy mother of God, there’s still 33 chapters (plus an epilogue) left to do. By May.
Uhhhhh. Yeah.
Cue the freestyle snacking. It’s going to be an intense few months.
Can you point me to your post that explains how you (and also your hubbie, I guess) became so fascinated with Gettysburg and the Civil War. I find this fascinating. Happy Anniversary, by the way.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually blogged about it as a whole (good topic for the future though…) but I have always been obsessed with the Civil War. I think it started in 5th grade when I read the book, “Ghost Cadet” which remains one of my all time favorite books. I met him face to face in Gettysburg and we actually got engaged at Gettysburg (he went to school nearby). These two are the closest I could come up with background (in further abuse of parenthesis, I’ll have to blog about how we met–photo included–soon!) http://heatherhambelcurley.wordpress.com/2012/07/15/the-last-blog-of-my-twenties-the-top-29-history-related-shenanigans-ive-pulled/ AND http://heatherhambelcurley.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/army-guys-get-me-hot-my-memorial-day-salute/
When we moved to our new house a number of years ago they had a Civil War battle enactment just a few blocks from where we lived. I was so excited – Yes, I have a real thing for soldiers also and especially Civil War era soldiers. They were handing out pamphlets about the organization that put on the “battle” and I told my husband, “This is great! I want to do this!” And then, he reminded me that I’d have to play the role of one of he ladies in the hoop skirts that runs out after the battle and takes care of the wounded soldiers. No, thanks. If I couldn’t play a soldier, I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. That’s why I love writing – you can be anything you want to be on the page.