Reminiscing

We were at a wedding the other night for John's cousin.  It was a great wedding.  Everything was gorgeous and it reminded me how much I do enjoy going to weddings.  Afterwards John and I reflected on our first year of marriage.  Partly because we had the wedding to remind us of ours and partly because we drove right past our first apartment on the way to pick up the boys.  If I had my pictures around I would scan some in of our first place.  It was awesome.  It really was the perfect first place.  It was an old Victorian house that had been converted into apartments with an addition built off the back for more.  When you walked into our apartment you could see from one end to the other in one shot since all the rooms were laid out in a straight line.  It was charming even with all it's faults, like ugly (and in places stained) wallpaper, the unventilated bathroom that was pretty much in your kitchen, and only having two closets.  But I still loved it.  It had probably 12' ceilings and 9' windows.  Our bedroom was the size of half of our current upstairs and had a huge bay window with a window seat.  The big old baseboards and the old hook ups for the gas lanterns were fabulous.  We had hand me down furniture and were happy with our busy newlywed lives.  We were both in school and both worked at least 2 jobs, but it was wonderful.  We didn't have the internet or cable.  Gasp!  We watched seasons of 24 and Lost on DVD that we borrowed from people. Eventually we got bunny ears for the TV and got two fuzzy channels, the CW and some channel with an "i" as the logo.  And I would record shows off the CW with my VCR and watch them later.  How often does that happen anymore?  We also had a puzzle table.  Yes, a puzzle table.  We would spend hours sitting and doing puzzles.  We did a lot of puzzles that first year.  We had no distractions from the outside world.  Our studying always got done, the apartment was always clean, and we always had time for each other.  That awesome apartment was only $400 a month, with utilities included!  WHAT?  I know, it still blows our mind how little we paid for that place. Working our multiple small jobs kept us afloat and we could save a little money to help when it came time for me to start my first job after graduating college.  We have wonderful memories of that first place.  Of the friends that came to hang out, hosting my nieces and nephew's while my sister had their little brother, honing my cooking skills, and learning how to live together.  They say the first year is the hardest.  I'm still waiting for that year to arise, 8 years later.

Aren't we so cute? And don't we look young and fresh?