May 15

Eleven years ago Doug and I were in Cambria, along with most of our friends. On this day, if I remember correctly, all the girls (and there were A LOT of them), were gathered at the beach house on Windsor Drive for manicures, pedicures and massages—oh, and wine. What a day that was.

Followed later by the wedding rehearsal, at which, Doug and I came very close to being married right there and then, although Pastor Russ didn’t cooperate. That certainly would have been a twist. We’re simply not that impulsive.

Then, later that evening, we all gathered at the Sea Chest for the rehearsal dinner. It is one of my fondest memories. I’ll never forget seeing my friend Meredith walk in the door. She surprised me and flew in from New York and I hadn’t thought she was going to be able to make it.

I remember how Doug’s father got tears in his eyes when Doug gave him the watercolor of Piedras Blancas—a painting that continues to make me misty-eyed whenever I see it hanging in their home in Florida.

AND, I remember Doug’s face when he saw the groom’s cake I had made, and the pride in his eyes when I told the story of him insisting we would only get married on top of Half Dome and there, his cake, was a topographic map of Yosemite Valley with a bride and groom on Half Dome. It isn’t often that I can impress Doug with any sort of creativity because he is always light years ahead of me in that department. But that night, and the next day, I think he was proud of all I had done for the wedding.

It is hard to believe we’ve been married eleven years, although since Frank is almost ten, I am reminded that it has, in fact, been that long on a daily basis. At the same time it seems as though we’ve been married fifty years.

Fifteen years ago, I had a dinner party at my house with Doug and Bonnie Toth, Per and Elaine (then Gasparek) Welinder and Doug Buchman, and from that night on, Doug and I have never been apart except for a couple vacations here and there. We intentionally got married around our “dating” anniversary because at the time, Doug thought he was going to have to remember both. (How sweet is that?) And then there’s that other event that takes place this weekend, the Paso Robles Wine Festival, and we figured all our friends would be there every year anyway, why not also celebrate our wedding anniversary. I sure wish we were headed there today. But alas, we are not.