A look back.

5 years ago today I was standing at the front of a blazing hot church, draped in yards of heavy fabric, holding the hand of an extremely over-heated male. I was also getting married.

June 25, 2005 was a scorcher - 30 degrees plus humidity. I thought I might die while we were standing in the sun taking our wedding photos. You would never guess from our pictures that we were sweating buckets. We must have had a good photographer ;) I waivered back and forth with regret about taking our pictures before the ceremony. I thought about how terrible I would look walking down the aisle - frizzy hair, streaked makeup, rosy (flaming red) cheeks. But then thought about enduring the steaming hot ceremony in church and then taking pictures - with frizzy hair, streaked makeup, and red cheeks. I figured our pictures had to last a life time, so it was better to get them over and done with.

Oh, and have I ever mentioned that when Justin is hot, Justin is GRUMPY?? This seems to be a trait that runs in the Pennings family. Although my sister in law recently told me that her husband has grown out of this behaviour. But I think Justin will always be affected by the heat. I, however, usually love being hot and can withstand high temperatures. But watching our wedding video, the looks on our faces???? Poor Pastor John. We both looked like we wanted his head on a platter. I remember trying to pay complete attention - after all, this was our wedding sermon! But I also remember staring up at Pastor John and realizing I couldn't see his face anymore. There was only a blackness that was creeping in around him. I knew the heat was barring down on me and could only pray to get through the rest of the ceremony without incident. Thank goodness we were seated - I'm sure if we'd been standing I would have ended up on the floor. But we were finally married (even though my wedding band wouldn't fit on my finger since it was so swollen from the heat!) and rushed to our air-conditioned car that would take us to our air-conditioned reception. During the ride to London Justin managed to sweat through his shirt, vest, and suit jacket. When he got out of the car there was a perfect back-shaped sweat stain left on the leather interior. Yuck.

I bet you can imagine what the first activity was when we finally reached our hotel that night.... that's right. Freezing cold showers for each of us. We had both suffered from heat stroke and barely wanted anything to do with the other. What a romantic start to married life! The next day we skipped breakfast due to our lack of appetite and popped ibuprofen every 4 hours.

But even though our married life together started off a little rough, I am SO glad I endured the heat. We have been through the thick and thin of it, hurt each other and helped each other. I respect him, adore him, admire him, and hopelessly love him. I no longer know myself apart from him. We have intertwined each of our self in the other. He is my provider, protector, confidant, advisor, and best friend. He is the un-conditionally loving father of my children. He is all that I could ever ask for.

Happy Anniversary, honey. Thank you taking the heat.