One Year.

Has it really been that long? Every time I look at a picture of us from that day, the memories come flooding back. I forget what I’m doing, where I am, and I just get lost in my thoughts. She often says she wishes she could relive that day. In a way it’s bittersweet. I looked forward to that day my entire life, and after it passed I really didn’t know what to feel. And then, the phone will ring. My computer will beep, or a window will pop up. I’ll get a text message, or an e-mail. Or best yet, I’ll step off an escalator at an airport, scan a crowd, and our eyes will meet. I then realize that it wasn't just one day I was looking forward to - it was all the days that followed it as well.

It was always my intention to add to the post below, to help me always remember the week of a lifetime. It probably would have been easier if I put this into words long ago, and I’m sure I’ll leave a lot out. Better now than never anyway. The usual disclaimer of an insane level of gross loveydoveyness applies. Will there ever be a post after this? Never say never…

Let’s see, I left off in the back of the biggest limo I’d ever seen, much less been in. Part of my grand plan was to have my best man beat us to the hotel to make some arrangements, so he gave the driver instructions to circle the resort for a while. This gave us a chance to play with all the bells and whistles on the inside, and do a whole lot of staring at each other. I’m serious. After an entire day of being in crowds and constantly smiling or posing, it was quite a bizarre thing to have it suddenly be just us. I’m going to do everyone outside of the two of us a favor and leave out various details as I tell this story, though.

Upon arriving at the Grand Floridian where we were to spend our wedding night, I stepped out of the limousine and gave my wife a hand. Turning around, I spotted a very cute old man dressed up as a footman right out of Cinderella. Bounding toward us with a hand outstretched, he greeted us with a cheerful grin and placed into my hand a small map. We thanked him and continued into the hotel, following the path that the map was leading us on. It took us to a side portion of the building, into a hidden hallway, and to a special elevator. I should mention it’s pretty easy to be the center of attention when walking arm in arm with someone in a wedding dress. She was mistaken for a Disney princess more than once by a small child (“Mommy mommy look it’s Cinderella!”), which always put a huge smile on her face. We stepped out of the elevator onto our floor, and proceeded down the hall to room 4024.

The funny thing is, as we opened the door, I had inside knowledge as to what would be inside, and I was still floored. The room was lit by candlelight. They were everywhere. The first thing I saw after pushing the door open was the petals. Hundreds and hundreds of them scattered all over the room. As my gaze moved upward I saw all the candles, and after taking a few steps forward I saw the huge pile of gifts that had been transported to the room from the reception. And here for all the world to see I will admit to one of the few things I regret about that day. It was only when I turned around to see if she was as excited as me that I realized she was still standing out in the hall. I’d become completely lost in the moment and forgotten about one of the most longstanding traditions there is when it comes to the wedding night. Cursing myself internally and apologizing profusely externally, I hoisted my wife into my arms and carried her into the room. Then we saw the rest. On the table by the bed was an assortment of goodies, more food than either of us could eat in a week. To go with the petals that completely covered the bed, were hundreds of tiny candy hearts. Initially after putting her down we were like kids in Toys R Us. We both darted in different directions, picking stuff up and letting out yelps of delight. In the bathroom was a large Jacuzzi tub, where she discovered a large basket of those girly products all women love. I later learned a lot of it was chocolate flavored or scented, so I can’t say that I was too bothered.

My favorite part of this little discovery session was pulling back the curtain. Looking out over the docks and the Seven Seas Lagoon, perfectly framed in the window was Cinderella’s castle at Walt Disney World. It had been my only real requirement when choosing a room, and as she came over and her eyes doubled in size, I knew I’d made a good choice.

[insert a few hours of mushy gushy stuff here]

As I previously mentioned, a few hours later we did something most people don’t do on their wedding night. We watched the Super Bowl. As a reader you’re either cheering and praising my name which means you’re probably a man or booing which means you’re probably a woman. In any case, you have to realize that we’d been up since the crack of dawn that morning, and it was now becoming late in the evening. Having been wired continuously all day and now completely stuffed full of all the different kinds of food that were in the room (did I mention the chocolate covered strawberries?) it was pretty easy to find ourselves passing out earlier than average. At one point however we were interrupted by various dull booms coming from the window. Rushing to the balcony, we experienced something I’ve dreamed about for years. I’m a huge fireworks fan, and seeing the colored explosions above the castle while arm in arm with someone I love was a moment I cherished. We were also wearing our brand new robes, another discovery we’d made in the room. Incredibly fluffy and monogrammed with our initials (in her case “new” initials), we would spend a lot of time over the next few days relaxing in them. Unfortunately the robes and the room were so comfortable, she was definitely unconscious by halftime. And to keep you from thinking I’m a totally inconsiderate loser, I must admit I don’t even remember which two teams were playing, and after the commercials were continuously disappointing I ended up crashing myself soon after.

Hm, already babbled extensively and I’ve only covered half a day. I’m glad I gave myself a few weeks before our anniversary to write this… Comfy? Alright then.

The next day we woke late, as the only things we had planned for the day involved enjoying the gorgeous resort we were staying at. Our first reservation was at their amazing Spa. I forget the exact name, but we got some kind of couple’s treatment. On the way there we strolled along the beach between the resort and the Wedding Pavilion, where they hold like three weddings a day that are purchased through Disney itself, but were significantly outside the top end of our price range. It’s a good thing really, as I feel the way ours turned out was perfect for us, and I enjoyed being able to make all the decisions between the two of us rather than have a lot of it cookie cuttered for us. Along the beach I took some pictures of her chasing the flocks of seagulls, always a fun sight. The saddest part of the day for me was having to split up from each other for a few short minutes into our respective genders’ locker rooms to prepare for the massage treatment. Shortly thereafter though we were ushered into a candlelit room where there were two tables set up for us. An hour later we were forced to triple check the clock, not believing the time had gone by so fast. Rejuvenated and smelling of whatever oils they had used we wandered around a bit before eventually purchasing one of those real soft mushy pillows in the shape of a heart. Which reminds me, she’s been hogging it this whole time, I’ve never gotten to sleep with it unless I’m visiting… Although we were reluctant to leave, as was the case with many places we visited on our Honeymoon, we always knew that other amazing things lay ahead. On the way back to the resort we stopped by the pool, where they had a big twisty slide I immediately dove onto… She revealed she’d been wearing the “Mrs” tank top I’d given her as a present previously, and soon after removing her “Bride” hat I was tackling her and dragging her towards the manmade waterfall in the center of the pool. Definitely recommend trying to kiss through a strong waterfall, although you might be left with some bruises.

After various other shenanigans at the pool and back at the room eventually our stomachs went growl growl and we conveniently had a reservation at the resort’s premier five star restaurant, Victoria & Albert’s. This place was fantastic. The menu basically gives you two or three choices for each course, and it’s like a seven course meal. Although some are bite sized, it would literally be the best bite of anything we’d ever had. We tried to get different things each course, and that way we could share both and get the most variety. The other thing was all the courses were works of art, so you spent just as much time admiring as you did eating… Nummy nummy in our tummy. We were given menus with our names on them as keepsakes, and you can bet we’ll be returning if we’re ever in the area again.

Eventually after another great night of fireworks… outside… we went to sleep. And eventually, we woke up. We pulled open the curtain to see the fog rolling in off the lagoon, masking the park from view. It was pretty neat and one of the five million things I took a picture of during our stay. Then it was down the hall to more of the free concierge food… it’s amazing how good free food can taste. :) Then came the sadness of packing up the room as we were going to be moving back to the Shades of Green for the remaining nights of our Honeymoon, basically for the sole purpose of saving money. Shades of Green is a great resort in itself, and given the minimal amount of time we spent in the room it suited us just fine.

I’ll just hit the special moments we shared while touring the parks, as this has already become lengthier than planned. J Day one of our theme park journeys took us to the Magic Kingdom. We considered saving the best for last, but in reality every day was special for a continuous array of reasons. If there was one thing I loved about the whole shebang it was how we looked. Call me a huge dork, but imagine us in matching blue and red Mickey and Minnie thin sweater type athletic jackets, and of course to top it off I wore a top hat with Mickey ears, and she a pair of Minnie ears on a headband with a veil attached. There were really two types of reactions that we got from people we passed by. The obvious one, looks of people being nauseated. But for every one of those, there were a dozen others who would randomly remind us that we aren’t the only two people in the world. During our time together it was very easy for me to completely forget this fact, and we’d be moseying down the street and out of nowhere would come a raucous “CONGRATULATIONS!” from a passerby. We’d interrupt our conversation to thank them, and by the time we turned back to each other with these huge grins on, we’d forget whatever we were talking about before. I could tell that a lot of the couples who wished us well were reminded of the times when they were honeymooning, and I’m so glad we were able to bring happiness to them just by being ourselves. We continued our tradition of having “couple pauses” during which we’d stop whatever we were doing and just focus on each other for a few seconds or even minutes. It’s amazing how fast you can make screaming kids just disappear.

Lines weren’t all that short, but to be honest I was able to avoid being my theme-park commando self for the most part. No twenty page touring plan; spontaneity reigned. That’s part of what makes the little things shine through in my memory. Upon finishing our ride on Space Mountain, we were congratulated by the Cast Member and ushered into a hallway which led directly back to the boarding area, allowing us to ride again while skipping the large line. This was just one of the many times we felt like royalty. I’m telling ya, those ears are money.

One of our favorite attractions was called Philharmagic. It was one of those 3D glasses type movies like good ol Captain EO, but was themed around Disney music from the various features that have been produced over the years. The special effects were quite neat, and it basically turned into a half hour karaoke session for us. We ended up going back later to see it again since we had such a good time.

The dining scheme for the week was one thing I did put some planning into. For our meal at the Magic Kingdom I’d booked us a reservation well in advance at the incredibly popular Cinderella’s Royal Table restaurant. Unlike Disneyland, there is a restaurant within the castle itself with views over the kingdom. Which reminds me, one thing that did bother her were my continuous comparisons to the theme park near my hometown, but what can I say, I’m biased towards the original. J Back to the meal, this was yet another occasion of us stuffing ourselves beyond belief. I actually took one of my favorite pictures of my wife while sitting at the table, as she just randomly leaned forward with a smile. We ended up with a pair of champagne glasses with the insignia of the restaurant, to go along with the ones from the wedding that had our names and the date engraved on them. It was on the way out that she had yet another dream come true though. As we passed through the throne room a side door opened and out pops who else but Cinderella herself. Initially my wife was trembling and panicking, hiding behind me, but soon after that she was posing near the throne with one of her childhood idols.

We ended the night with the Wishes fireworks spectacular, but I’ll cover that a little later as we ended up seeing it another night as well. As we then returned to the hotel I should mention the housekeeping people there, who really made us feel at home during our entire stay. They recognized us from the time we’d spent there prior to and including the wedding, so there were various little things that they did to help us enjoy the little time we spent stationary in one place.

Day two of our adventures took us to the MGM Studios. Remember that I had never been to Orlando prior to this trip, so all of this was completely new for me. We ended up getting there shortly after opening, and I had a few minutes of commandoism return to me as we busted our way over to Tower of Terror to grab a Fastpass and then made a beeline for the Rock N Roller Coaster. This was my first time on one that had indoor inversions, and that initial launch was quite a thrill as well. At Tower of Terror we ended up getting a magnet with our picture on it. I put on a scary (looking) face and she clung to my arm, and with our ears on it was quite the Kodak moment.

Later we headed toward something I was excited about, the show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Not too many people know that years ago when it was more popular and Regis was still the host, I made it all the way to the semifinals, one step short of being in the ten seats in New York. They’d already gotten my airport information and everything, it was down to under twenty potential contestants at that point. A series of “put these four things in order” questions was the last elimination round, and I’m nearly positive the one that dumped me was putting the four main Seinfeld actors in order by their ages. Apparently Jason Alexander is bald, but young. In any case, upon entering the studio we are given special cards and told to sit over in a separate section. Reading the cards it said something about being in a “Fastest Finger” seat so I’m instantly excited that I’ll finally get my chance to shine. As it turns out, these seats are just like any other, and everyone has an equal shot at getting into the hot seat. The one benefit was lots of big screen time, as we were sitting directly behind the host. At one point during the pre-show he was asking for applause, and as everyone was going nuts then said “Ok now just the honeymooners!” after which we let out a combination of screams yelps and various other sounds of uncontrolled eagerness. It got a good laugh out of the crowd anyway.

You would think that being singled out at that show would be enough, but it turned out that was just the beginning of a theme. As we entered the theater for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, we were ushered through an area that had been previously blocked by a chain, and soon found us in VIP seating in about the 2nd row. This was already pretty neat, but a few short minutes later as they were taking volunteers of various categories, and we were jumping around doing our best to get noticed, apparently it worked as they asked for “Anyone on their honeymoon?” and as far as I could tell we were either the only ones, or we drowned everyone else out. After some quick “auditioning” on stage (we had to try to look scared, and given how much everyone was cracking up we must have been over the top or something) we get taken up to this costume area and threw on some Arab garb, and only have time for a quick comment on how ridiculous (read: cute) we both looked before we’re suddenly out on stage again in front of the massive crowd. This show is quite awesome to begin with just sitting in the theater, but being on stage as the gunfire and explosions go off around you is quite a thrill. After a few scenes they thanked us and we returned to our seats to thunderous applause in time for the finale. There’s a statistical saying I can’t seem to get right about how one time is a random occurrence, twice is an abnormality and three times is an impossibility when it comes to rare events, and when it came to VIP treatment during shows we ended up breaking all the rules during the trip as I’ll mention later.

Close to the time when the studios closed we happened to be walking past a building where Mickey was available for pictures, and it looked pretty deserted, so we decided to take our chances. Now you have to realize that although I’ve been a Disney fanatic for my whole life essentially, I had mentioned to her that I have zero pictures of myself with my hero. Lo and behold, at the end of a short line is the Mouse himself, and he was even in his Sorceror’s Apprentice outfit from Fantasia and later Fantasmic. My wife definitely wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass, and we had them snap a few of us while I wore this massive grin. Earlier on we’d gotten one of her with Minnie, so we were quite satisfied.

Then came more food, this time at a buffet that was part of a special deal that got you “preferred” seating at the showing of Fantasmic that evening. As it turned out the seating was well to the right of center, and I simply wasn’t satisfied, so I left her momentarily alone and went scouring through the areas that had been filled with people waiting for hours trying to find room for us. A big smile and a wave later and she was hurrying over to join me in about the 2nd row yet again, dead center. It was then I caught her eyeing a product on one of the carts where they were selling stuff down front. I’d say the purchase brought a smile to our faces, but it’s not like it wasn’t already there. You know those Mickey/Minnie big white gloves? Yeah, that really topped off our outfit. We would each wear one on the hand that wasn’t attached to the other person, and that was pretty much our getup for the remainder of the parks. Then came the show, and if you know me, you know I love Fantasmic. It requires every ounce of self-control to not stand up and conduct in time with the music and fireworks, or imitate Mickey’s every move. If you didn’t think I was a child trapped in a man’s body before, you do now. By the end of the night we were beginning to feel the effects of nonstop excitement for multiple days, but we knew we were only halfway to the theme park quadfecta. Guessing that’s not a word.

Third on the list was Epcot Center. Just thinking about walking into those parks for the first time is making my heart beat faster just like it did then. I just love amusement parks, and a new one means a whole lot of first time thrills and excitement. Personal favorites were Mission: Space and Test Track, the former of which was similar to a military centrifuge, and the latter of which was a whole lot of vroom vroom. The morning actually had some hiccups, it was initially drizzling which probably helped lighten the crowds, and minutes before reaching the front of the line at Test Track it broke down for quite a while probably due to the rain. Normally that would be quite a nuisance, but when you can just sit down and nap on each other’s shoulders, it’s actually refreshing.

We got a neat picture at the aquarium attraction, there was a scuba diver in the tank for a feeding, and he came right up to the window and motioned for us to kneel down next to him, so it looked like he had his arms around us. This was just a precursor though to our amazing meal at the Coral Reef restaurant, which is located within the tank and has one entire wall replaced with glass looking out at all the sea life. Again we stuffed ourselves, and again we had no room whatsoever for dessert. This doesn’t really mean anything when you’re on your Honeymoon though. You can tell them you’re not hungry, that you can’t even fit another bite, but you’re still in for it. Shortly after mentioning this, our waitress came to the table saying that I had a phone call, which initially was both puzzling and worrisome. I should have known better as I picked up the portable receiver they brought to the table, as it was Mickey Mouse’s voice congratulating us, and no sooner had he finished speaking than they placed in front of us a plate with a solid chocolate champagne glass filled with fondue, and a bunch of chocolate covered strawberries surrounding it. And it’s not like you can let them just sit there no matter how full you are.

At one point we were randomly walking through one of the interactive areas of the attractions, and this wonderfully cheerful elderly cast member came bounding up to us to wish us well, and went on for quite a while about how wonderful our lives were going to be together. He had a quirky name and unfortunately it eludes me after all this time, but he also ended up bringing us over to a phone on the wall and after dialing a secret extension and passing us the receiver, we were again greeted with a congratulatory message. At least this time I wasn’t worried about it being some kind of emergency. J It was characters like him though whose words reminded me how lucky I was, and am.

Eventually it was time for yet another night show, this time Illuminations. A large portion of Epcot surrounds a big lagoon, and it is in the center of this lagoon that the show takes place. Unlike most fireworks shows that send the shells high in the sky, the majority of the explosions at this one took place just above the water, making them look much larger and sound much more powerful. There were tons of awesome effects including huge fireballs, made possible because it was all over water and a distance from the crowds. The soundtrack was superb as well, and we thoroughly enjoyed the show.

One of the shops was called “The Art of Disney” or something of the short, and it had a ton of those animation cels you see at various places, basically works of art from all the different features. Up in a corner of the shop my wife spotted one that made her gasp and giggle. It was of The Little Mermaid, as she sits on a rock singing about being a part of Eric’s world, and the wave crashes up around her as the song crescendos. She used to sing that song as a child and even today more than any other. Pretty sure it’s her favorite moment from any movie. I used the relative steepness of the price to talk her out of it at the time, but I could tell how special it would be to her, and within a few months I had phoned up various numbers while in Texas and eventually got connected with the store, who were able to ship it to me so I could then forward it on to her in Germany. The look on her face when she opened it and realized the trouble I had gone to made it all worth it and then some.

Unfortunately afterwards was one of the literally count on one hand sour moments of the whole trip. While walking out of a store we’d been browsing in, my wife took one step across the threshold and was immediately run over by this woman in one of those mechanized carts. She must have been doing at least 10mph down the sidewalk right across a bunch of doorways, I guess hoping no one would come out at that time. After mumbling to herself she eventually pushed on without a word, meeting up with family members several yards away and through hand gestures towards us and loud verbal complaints obviously insisting it was my wife’s fault. This soured my wife’s mood quite a bit, and unfortunately we were also passing through the area of Epcot devoted to the country of Germany, which just ended up serving as a reminder to my wife that at the end of the week, she and I would be going our separate ways yet again, for an amount of time yet to be determined.

I don’t think she said anything to me for the entire walk out to the front gate, but it was there that luck shined upon me once again. As we were heading for the car she grabbed my arm and stopped me, and following my gaze I saw a young man looking into a woman’s eyes, and as we both stared he got down on one knee and opened up a small box. As she covered her mouth with her hand and nodded, he pulled from behind his back and underneath his coat a Minnie hat with a veil and placed it on her head. There was loud applause from everyone who had stopped to gawk, and when I looked back at my wife there was a tear in her eye. Wherever you are dude, nice work, and thanks. J We were stopped by yet another photographer shortly thereafter, but he took this great shot we ended up purchasing of us in our jackets hats and gloves arm in arm in front of the large sphere that houses Spaceship Earth.

Another seemingly quick nap later and it was time for the final park, that being Animal Kingdom. It had been quite some time since I’d been to a zoo, so seeing all the major animals up close was quite a cool experience. The safari into the back area of the park was quite exciting, you never knew when you’d just randomly run into an elephant. One of the rides we went on was based on the movie Dinosaur and just like a scene out of Jurassic Park, it was amazing. I’m not sure if my wife was squealing because she was genuinely scared or she was enjoying herself, but luckily it helped mask my own girlish screams. There was also another 3D glasses show based on A Bug’s Life which actually had some awesome effects “4th dimension” effects that got the audience involved. I won’t spoil any of them for those who haven’t seen it, but all of those 4D shows you see at the various theme parks are really a good time and worth the wait.

It seems like I should have more to say if I fit all the highlights into one paragraph, but I guess that’s because we didn’t end up on stage at any major shows… Dinner was at The Rainforest Café, which is actually a national chain and always good for a big meal. Our strategy for eating in the parks was mostly snagging a churro or two during the day and then gorging ourselves in the evenings, and the Honeymoon 5 or 10 or whatever were certainly the most enjoyable pounds I’ve gained, ever. Although our energy level continued to sag a bit, there was no major night show so we ended up getting more sleep than average.

We had decided to spend the last full day of our Honeymoon outside the parks, relaxing in various other ways. One of the things we did was go invade the pool at Shades of Green that’s shaped like Mickey’s head, and act like kids again. We did everything I used to do during cross country driving trips, from cannonballs, to using each other’s shoulders as a launcher, to diving for coins, and everything in between. Even “taxi” rides, where you ride on each others backs and go around turns and into dips that end up submerging both parties. Basically just enjoying the water and the sun, and loving life. We later walked in our robes over to the gazebo, and stood as we had nearly a week before, in slightly different outfits. Something tells me we’ll be back to relive that moment again and again.

You can only keep me away from theme parks for so often though, especially if they’re so readily available. We decided the best way to end the trip would be to see the night shows again, all back to back to back. This would require some legwork as they were at something like 8 then 9 then 10pm, so given they were around a half hour each and it was about a half hour to get between them. First up was Fantasmic, which we ended up walking into just before the start, when there was only standing room only near the very back of the ampitheatre. We’re standing there looking forlorn when all of a sudden I’m grabbed by the wrist and we’re being led over towards one of the stairways. The Cast Member speaks a few words to this large burly guy basically along the lines of “Find them seats now!” and he goes galumphing down the stairs two at a time and basically pushing people way down below over away from the aisle, and after waving us down we suddenly found ourselves that’s right, 2nd row, dead center. We felt kind of sheepish getting all the extra attention, but it’s not like we were complaining either. Unfortunately part of my strategy since we’d already seen it once was to sit further up so that we could escape right at the end and get out of the park fastest, and being so far down made that impossible. Being in such a hurry foreshadowed another of the few sore spots of the trip later on.

Next up was Illuminations, which again was an amazing show I highly recommend seeing at least once, and which I recently acquired a video of online and even that still gives me chills. With two shows down and just the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom to go, there I am getting off the monorail and flying down the escalator at full speed, trying to get to a prime viewing spot in the park as fast as possible, when around the corner of the escalator totally out of nowhere comes this small kid barreling in from the side right across the opening. With no way to stop and arms flailing I basically end up kneeing this kid in the side of the head and sending him flying, and within a millisecond his mom is threatening me with all sorts of garbage. My wife (who probably would have suffered the same fate had she been first down) was quite displeased with the result regardless but I was again impressed with how quickly we were able to move on from it and zip into the park.

Fireworks are one of my favorite things in the world. Always have been, always will be. Unfortunately this show while being one of the typically amazing ones I’d seen at a Disney them park, was also very bittersweet. It was a sign that the Honeymoon was coming to an end. And neither of us was ready. The opening bars to the song that opens the show are as follows:

Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish, I wish tonight
Now make a wish, and do as dreamers do
And all our wishes, will come true.

My arms were wrapped around her, and when I raised one to wipe my eyes, at the same time she used my sleeve to wipe hers. I’d dreamed my whole life about standing in front of the Disney castle watching the fireworks with someone I loved, and not only was it happening, but it wasn’t going to be the last time. How many times do we wish as we blow out the candles, blow the leaves off a thistle, or wish on a shooting star. Always for something that would make us eternally happy. How many people can say they got what they wished for?

Right now it looks like in June of this year after about seventeen months of marriage we’ll finally be moving into the same house. All combined including the Honeymoon we’ve spent about four weeks of our first year together, and we’re looking to raise that average. They say you’re supposed to give a gift involving paper according to the traditional list of anniversary gifts, so I’m going to be printing this out and giving it to her as we celebrate our anniversary in a few short days. To this point I’m pretty sure she has no idea I’m even writing it. We decided to celebrate our first anniversary back in Florida, with a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas, so I’m sure we’ll be reliving all of these moments and creating countless new ones.

I could write more about a tearful goodbye at the airport. I could write about the security checkpoint and potentially missing a flight being the only thing that could separate us. I could write more about how impossible it is to marry your one, your only, and then kiss them goodbye for months. I don’t know about you, but that’s all a bit depressing, and no way to end a story about the week of a lifetime. Instead, I’ll end with some words that I’d listened to countless times, but never really heard until standing there beneath the fireworks with my wife.

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through.
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true.