"What a Wonderful World....."

I never ever thought that I would ever get married. In fact, I started out 2004 swearing that I wasn't going to do that.

That promise lasted until about, well, July 2004.

That was my first and last New Year's resolution.

Anyway, back on topic. Last year, the Tsar and I got married in Vegas. A couple of months after, the Tsar asked me if I wanted to renew our vows on our first anniversary. I asked him if he wanted to do that every year. He thought that was romantic, and I said that I would do it only if we did it in a different place every year (damn straight I'm going to arrange to have at least one vacation....)

Sunday was our first anniversary. Since the Tsar just started his new job, we couldn't exactly ask for vacation time to go anywhere but Florida. A few minutes on the Internet, and we found Affordable Weddings in Daytona Beach.

We went for the "Intimate Affair" package on the beach at sunrise. Since I promised the Tsar that the only time I would make him dress up in a tuxedo was on our weddding day, we got re-hitched barefoot, in our swimsuits.

The music we chose for the beginning of the ceremony was one of my all-time favorite songs, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". We recited our vows, listened to the Rev Ginny Holder recite the prayer of St Francis and the Apache Wedding Blessing, and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise and the waves coming in. I wrote "I still do..." in Russian in the wet sand, and we watched the ocean wash it away.

Finally, we ran off into the waves to take the plunge....literally. Some of the other guests in the hotel stood on their balconies and applauded as we came out of the ocean, holding hands.

It was sweet, it was romantic...and I don't know how we're going to top it next year. But we're going to have fun trying to do that, and we have a year to plan it, right?

I know the Tsar doesn't read this often, but if he does.....tebya lyublyu, seychas i vsegda, sladky moy.

P.S. Best wishes to my new favorite soon-to-be-newlyweds: eLarson and his lovely lady. Next month, right?