It's not a leap year, so I can't really claim today as our anniversary, but we can celebrate ten years of marriage today (and plan to, by going to 1789 tonight). It's a cliche to say that I'd marry Jill all over again, but that February 29 was one of the best days of my life ever, and I'd love to replay it: we got married on a icy, rainy Thursday in Austin, TX, but that didn't matter because the ceremony and reception were wonderful. The vows were written by us in consultation with Pastor Paul Frerking, a friend of Jill's family from their time in New Orleans, our buddy Karl Rehn played piano (including "The Great Gig in the Sky" as people were entering the church) and put together a jazz trio for our reception, our future cousin-in-law, Terri Gailey, sang Enya's "On Your Shore", Jill's college roommate Sharon read e.e. cumming's "i carry your heart with me", my brother Dale and Jill's cousins provided ushering, and my cousin Rich and Jill's cousin Julie were our best man and matron of honor. The reception afterwards at the University of Texas Alumni Center couldn't have been any better. All during the planning session for the wedding, Jill's dad Bob had been giving us hell for insisting on a vegetarian dinner. "Couldn't we at least have fish," Bob kept saying. So, that day I went out and bought a bag of goldfish crackers, which the caterer found a glass bowl for, and in the middle of the meal, we presented Bob with his fish. He spent the next twenty minutes going around to each table offering people some fish. Similarly, Jill's mom was somewhat scandalized that we insisted on a chocolate cake from Texas French Bread. We ordered the mother-in-law's cake and presented her with her own white cake for desert. And the caterer? Magic in the space of seven courses, from the jalapeno poppers through the sorbets and the portobello entree. In the video that Julie's husband Steve took, there's a point where Bob is giving a toast and the edge of his coat goes into the frosting of the cake unnoticed by Bob. In the edge of the frame you can see the caterer reach out and clean the coat off. When we settled up with the caterer, he told us that the employees had been fighting over who got to work our reception because of all the little touches we had planned. The next day, my aunt Mog hosted us at her house for a gift-opening breakfast. Unknown to us, she had had too much to drink or had the flu or a combination of the two the night before, but opened her home and chatted with everyone even though she was still probably feeling horrible.

From there, we went to Italy for a memorable almost-Grand-Tour, and the traveling and fun have never stopped.

Thanks to Jill for a great ten years, and here's to the next 30 and February 29, 2036, when we can really celebrate our 10th Anniversary.