8th Wedding Annivesary

I will admit, yesterday was a very rough day for me and by far the roughest day for me since the funeral, however I found the strength to make it through with the help of my friends and family. Along the way, I found some significant ways to celebrate this special day now and in the future. I realized that our anniversary means so much to me because it was OUR day….everyone celebrates Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween….but August 18th was OUR day….we picked this day out ourselves and committed ourselves to each other.

I spent some alone time at St. Susanna’s in the morning. This is where we were married….where the kids were baptized….and where the funeral was. The same priest, Father Kevin was there for all of these events. Mark highly respected Father Kevin, and the feeling was mutual. This church holds so many memories for us and it is such a special place. I had the sanctuary all to myself for a while and was able to spend some quality time reflecting in between sobs. I also got to talk with Father Kevin for awhile, who can relate to losing a spouse, which was also very comforting.

After Luke got home from school, a florist came with a beautiful bouquet of daises….with a beautiful note “Happy Anniversary. All because two people fell in love”. Daisies where the flowers at our wedding and the day Mark died I bought a plaque that read “All because two people fell in love” though I never got to show it to him. At this time I still do not know WHO sent them….but really it doesn’t matter who did….it is the gesture…and for now I can believe that an angel sent them to me.

That afternoon, I sent the kids to the sitter as I need to do something else by myself. I drove down to the Greenwood Mall to Build-A-Bear. I made myself an “Autumn Bear” (which symbolizes Mark died in the fall) and asked that they show me how to close up the bear when I got home. The reason was that I wanted to put a little bit of Mark’s ashes in there (and figured it would have freaked the workers out in the store) so we could have him close. Though a little creepy, it was very, very peaceful. Of course when I showed the kids the new “Daddy” bear they fell in love with it. One of these days I will explain what is inside.

And for dinner, I brought home Skyline Chili for us to eat. Mark LOVED Skyline and introduced it to me when we first started dating.
I might not be making a “Daddy” bear every August 18th, but I know I will be spending some time at St. Susanna’s and eating some Skyline every August 18th.

Our Wedding Day, 8/18/01. Leaving St. Susanna's Catholic Church, Plainfield, Indiana.

The beautiful daisies.

The "Daddy" bear from Build-A-Bear....of course he had to get a Purdue shirt :o)