Anniversary #6

Laura and I had just met and were going away for our first mini trip to Natural Bridge, VA in 2002. I thought I had a picture of her in her Harley hat, but the only thing I could find was her standing happily in a sea of Harleys in the parking lot. And then May 16, 2004 was spent with many of our friends and family sharing our love for each other, and I was lucky enough to get to marry my best friend ever. The pastor that married us somehow put down May 17th as our wedding date(this will come into play soon...)

And now I am blessed to continue on this journey with my wife of 6 years(2 bulldogs and 2 children later).

We both worked on May 16, 2010 and we were tired but we tried to celebrate that night. Take out, a bottle of wine, flowers. Decent attempt, but with a screaming daughter in the arms and a son running around in the other room, and food that looked better than it was, anniversary #6, part 1, fell a little flat.

Jackson was nice enough to help blow out the candles on that night.

Monday the 17th started out normally enough. I got up to go for a bike ride, but it was raining. I rode to our frineds the Lees house, because the anniversary surprise had been living there for the past month. I was so excited the day was finally here, but the rain was making me nauseous.

I moved the new motorcycle to our neighbors driveway and then went home and got ready for work normally. I ALWAYS work on Mondays, but I had asked off for this one months before. I left the house dressed for work and went to pick up my mother-in-law(who never pried as to what I was up to and was a more than willing participant in my shenanigans, and without whom I could have never pulled this off, many thanks to my father-in-law as well for his help with the kids and dogs over these days). We arrived back at the house at 8AM and I walked in and told Laura she had 10 minutes to get ready. Get the kids ready, dress warm and wear sneakers.

We got the kids ready and I took the kids and dogs out to Laura's car with Mom waiting to whisk them away. When Laura and I walked outside and the car and kids and dogs were gone, she was beginning to get more confused.

We then drove down the street and noticed our neighbor taking pictures of a new motorcycle. She stopped us and asked us to take a picture of her in front of it to send an email to her husband. We obliged, but Laura was more than suspicious at this time. By the time she saw the license plate(look ahead a few pictures) she was saying, "What? What? No way!"

So I got on and got her on the back and we made our maiden voyage in the drizzle and cold, but she didn't seem to care.

We drove to Cracker Barrel and had breakfast. Laura likes it here and I don't really care for it too much, but this day was about her and her commitment to our family, and my breakfast was darned good.

The only people that knew anything were my coworkers, the Lees who helped house the bike, and the Lucases because they do the insurance. People helped give input into the plate. It was either My Pie or PIE&PI. I guess you can see which won.

Coworkers were convinced I was going through a mid-life crisis. But Laura knows this is actually all for her. I have never had ANY interest in riding. Even when my dad or grandparents rode years ago, I just never even thought about it, and when Laura learned a few years ago, again I had little interest. I think these pictures show that Laura really does like her new bike.

I learned to ride in March when I told Laura I had a conference in Richmond for 2 days. It was actually a riding course and I found that I liked it and then bought the bike and had some time to practice between then and now.

Much of breakfast was spent with Laura trying to get her mind around what was going on and I got to tell how this whole thing went down.

She then found out we also had the day without kids and despite the crummy weather, we decided to go home and get warmer clothes and then go for a ride. I had printed out a Harley Davidson poker run for the month of May that brought us to 5 wineries, and we decided to make a trek to the first winery which was White Fences winery in Irvington Virginia. http://www.whitefencesvineyard.com/vineyard.asp
This is about a 90 minute trip one way and would be beautiful in the right weather. However it was mid 60s and raining on us for the entire trip. Not ideal for our first voyage.

The West Point and Irvington bridges are beautiful but again, in treacherous weather and worried about winds, they were more worrisome.

We made it over the bridges without incident and pulled into the White Fences winery.

We were cold, damp and having difficulty feeling our fingers...

And the winery was closed(which I knew when making up the fake Poker Run form, a little further misdirection never hurt anyone). We stood inside this little building for a few minutes and gathered our disappointment and then mentally prepared for the 90 minute trip back in the rain. Luckily the directions for the poker run gave us an alternative destination if the winery was closed. We were told to go to Detention, which is a small wine room in a local bed breakfast, Hope and Glory.

http://www.hopeandglory.com/

All Laura wanted was to get a bath and warm up, but she was being a trooper. We stopped and had a coffee and hot chocolate in Detention(with a little Courvoisier) and then Peggy gave us a tour of the property before stamping our card for the Poker Run. (the above picture was the following day, which is why its not raining)

Please note the discoloration of the jeans from knees down. They are drenched!

Peggy showed us cottage 4 as an example and as Laura was talking to her, Peggy disappeared and closed the door. Laura said "Okay, I guess she had to go..." And thats when I said Happy 6th anniversay.

After saying "Shut up!" about 50 times, she finally believed we were staying there.

And this was her true excitement as she stared at the shower! We could warm up and didn't have to get back on the bike right then.

We had little in the lines of other clothes(although I had driven up 2 days prior and left us some clothes, I hadn't expected the downpour and therefore had no non dress up clothes). Luckily the robes were warm.

We had an amazing afternoon sitting and talking on the couch over a bottle of champagne. It was absolutely perfect. I think the rain actually made us relax and enjoy all of this even more.

We had dinner at the Tides Inn in the clothes I had left us and had a great dinner.

http://www.tidesinn.com/

The owners of Hope and Glory were ridiculously amazing. Peggy actually drove us to the Tides Inn in her car and gave Laura the jacket off of her back because hers was wet. Who does that? Dudley her husband was equally as nice even after an emergency trip visit earlier in the day for a bum foot. The crutches didn't slow his hospitality. And Meseret helped me get all of this arranged and even made a bouquet of flowers in the room for us. She too is a gem and we hugged all of them repeatedly during the stay. What an experience.

Dinner was crab cakes and filet, and was very tasty.

Appetizer was some fancy chicken taquito thing, and judging by the eyes, a gin and tonic.

The next morning allowed us to see some of the grounds that we missed. The outdoor tub and shower looked wonderful, but not in this weather.

And the gardens were gorgeous.

We went and enjoyed a cup of coffee/tea and just relaxed until a great breakfast and even better company from another couple staying there celebrating their 30 something anniversary. It gives us something to shoot for and try to surpass(but luckily both of our parents have already set the mark even higher, and we thank them for this).

The front yard was still wet, but looked inviting and we could envision ourselves with a glass of wine in those chairs. Maybe someday, but alas it was back to the real world.

The ride back was much better although still a little cold.

We arrived at the Julian household to Anne, Lloyd, KK, Jackson and Harper.

They didn't know any of the above, and we got to tell our story.

And relive it again with them.

We are blessed.

I am blessed.

Thank you for marrying me Laura and may we have many more anniversaries together.

Love, Pi.