Saturday, November 12, 2005

Anniversary

Today is our five year wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to my favorite restaurant on Saturday night. It isn't a fancy restaurant, I think my love of it comes more from our wonderful experiences there than for the extra ordinary food they serve. Most of our friends think of it as mediocre at best. But, it is my favorite restaurant in Misawa and that is where we went. The New Myaki serves Chinese food not Japanese food. But, the Japanese really do know how to cook, wow. We had a seven course meal. They brought us our seven entrees on beautiful china each dish on a separate plate with enough for two. We got several small plates so we can take what we like of each entree and put it on our own individual clean plate. Our table for four was completely covered in dishes so much to eat and all of it so good. We usually only order on entree each as this method is so expensive, but it was our anniversary.

So we had, chicken with cashews and leeks in a savory sauce, egg rolls, wantons, fried rice, corn soup, sweet and sour pork, beef with bell peppers, and fried chicken. It was all so amazingly good. Tons of MSG, I get a headache but it tastes so good. It was so much fun. We went to this restaurant on the day we got off the plane in Misawa for the first time. We had previously been stationed in Italy and we had spent a couple of weeks in America visiting family. Finally after all the plane rides and hotels we had arrived at our new home. It was snowing, it snowed 19 inches that night. We were so tired and hungry. We took a taxi to this restaurant our cab driver didn't understand that we wanted to eat, he took us to the police station first and we finally convinced him to take us to a restaurant and he took us to the New Myaki.

We sat down and looked at the menu. Everything was so expensive, we had just come from Italy where one could get a meal for the whole family for the price of one dish at this restaurant. We ordered appetizer and soup and entrees and dessert. We were used to Italy. This was so much food, we barley touched it all, so much money so much food. We were amazed that each table had a button one could push at any time for service. So once we had made our decisions we pushed the button and our waitress instantly appeared. We ordered our meal and it was brought to the table in minutes. In Italy the waitress comes to take your order about a 1/2 an hour after giving it to you, even if you are the only family in the place and then your food comes about 45 minutes later. Italians are all about the socializing of the moment and not about eat and go. The Japanese are all about service. We ate our delicious meal. I swear it was the best thing I had ever eaten. Me four months pregnant and having just spent two weeks in airports and on airplanes.

One time while we were eating at The New Myaki there was a huge earthquake. We were actually in the parking lot getting into the car. I was about 50 months pregnant and it was a 7.2 earthquake. The buildings around us were swaying as were the light poles it was really wild. No damage, amazing.

After dinner yesterday on our anniversary dinner we went to an Irish Pub, an Irish pub in Japan, run by a real Irishman. There was a live jazz band. There were Japanese jazz musicians. It was really great. Jeff has a beer and I had a coke. They have Guinness and Kilkenny on tap here. We paid a fortune. But, it was so worth it.

I was planning to write the story of our wedding. Jeff was stationed in Italy and I was living in Fort Wayne, Indiana when we met. The paper work for a military wedding for an Airman stationed overseas is astronomical. But, we made it through. Going through all that bureaucracy at the time drove me crazy now it is just a normal part of life, amazing what you get used to.

Jeff and I met through a friend. We had a friend in common, for me she was my dear friend from junior high school until today, for him it was someone who was moving from England to Italy at the same time and they made the drive together. Our mutual friend suggested we email one another, why she made this suggestion I will never know, everyone asks me, but she doesn't know either, just that she sent me an email one day telling me to email this guy and I did.

So we struck up a friendship via the email. I noticed right away what an amazing guy he was. I always replied to my emails right away. He was always online when he said he would be. I had never met a guy who was willing to meet me half way before it was really nice. To this day Jeff is like that in everything. Then we talked on the phone, that lasted for hours. We spent so much money on phone calls I swear it was cheaper to move to Italy than to continue our relationship via the phone. Every conversation was at least four hours. I have no idea what we discussed, but it must have been profound.

Jeff had to come to America for a class so he took some leave and came to meet me. That was wonderful We had such a great time. He is so handsome. I was expecting a big dork, due to his pictures not being an accurate representation of his handsomeness. Funny, how different we all look in real life. But, I have never seen anyone who takes such bad pictures as Jeff. I never really think of it anymore, because I just see Jeff when I look at pictures, but it really is weird.

After that Jeff went on a cruise. He took a cruise from Italy through the Greek Islands and to Croatia. At that same time a Greek Cruise ship sank near Greece. I was so worried. I called my friend like everyday to see if she had heard anything. She thought I was a nut case. I guess I was, she said I had no idea y'all were so serious, I said, neither did I. After that we started to talk of marriage. At first we were going to wait a year. But, then we decided why wait. We really couldn't date, via the Internet so why not get to know one another while we are married. I know that sounds really crazy. If you know Jeff and I you know that we are both usually very prudent people but this is love. So Jeff sent me a dozen roses at my work place, saying Marry me in December. Notice that he never asked me to marry him, he told me to marry him. He is still like that. He had planned to take leave at Christmas to visit his family and he thought he could swing by and marry me and take me to meet his family.

We actually considered having the wedding in Virginia so his family could be there. Then we considered having a big church wedding in Indiana where I lived. Planning a wedding in another state seemed a little difficult to me. In the end we discovered that I had to be married to him before we could start the paper work for me to be recognized as his wife by the military and move to Italy. This paper work took a month at least. So he just flew in the next day and we got married on a Monday with about three days notice. I am pretty sure we remembered to call our families before the wedding. A couple of crazy kids.

Jeff and I were married. Then he went back to Italy for 6 weeks before I saw him again. Once the paper work was done, Jeff came back and picked us up and we went to meet his family and then flew to Italy. Where we lived happily ever after. Turns out you can really get to know someone over email. The first year was rough at times, but I think that is true of all marriages. So this is my military style long distance wedding story. Happy Anniversary babe. Jeff keeps telling me it feels like 50, ha.

Our mutual friend quit speaking to us. Our family and other friends at first thought we were nuts and now they just laugh and say we are perfect for each other. A couple of nuts, with our nutty girls. May all your dreams come true. To all those reading this, I think there may be two people, tell me how you met your spouse and about your wedding story. I am in the mood for romance.

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