Married! And Boy, Was I Wrong!!

Grandson Hudson's artistic depiction of our wedding

I was wrong and I have no problem admitting it. I truly thought that getting married wouldn't make things any different between Sheila & me. More about this later, but, I was wrong ...

It was a nearly ... no, not nearly ... it WAS a perfect day in every possible way. Miramar Beach, Florida is as close to beach perfection as it can possibly be with beautiful white sand beaches, almost transparent water, and a general "kick back & relax" atmosphere. Shauna, James & the kids were there, as were Bruce and Linda along with Laura & Lord who traveled down from NYC. The weather couldn't have been any more perfect, temps in the high '70's at 6:00 pm and another fantastic sunset underway.

And Sheila, looking happy and beautiful, with tears in her eyes the entire time, joined me in making a commitment to a lifetime together! It was a small service, just 11 people, and just the way we wanted it. The focus was on the moment, not encumbered by any need to entertain a large crowd or worry about catering or photographers or live music. We really wanted to enjoy the ceremony and not have to get stuck in "coordination mode".

The wedding party, l to r:
Bruce. Linda, Carter, me, Sheila, Audrey, James, Hudson, Shauna Laura, Lord

Lord is an ordained minister and performed the service for us. It was really comforting to have a family member "in charge" of the actual ceremony, knowing that he would keep us on track ... he did a wonderful job!  Carter handled the photography for us (Carter is a great photographer, videographer and vlogger), and Sheila is so happy that her grandson was able to be such a big part of the event.

Sheila, still beautiful even when wind blasted

The wind decided to kick it up a notch just before the ceremony started. Some creative positioning allowed for generally great poses, and even those that were a bit wind blown came out great! For some reason, the beach was not loaded with semi-naked swimmers so the pictures don’t need a lot of photo-shopping. Truthfully, neither of us noticed anything other than each other and the ceremony itself ... it was cool to watch a video of the ceremony and see what was going on around us.

The day was perfect, the ceremony was perfect, Sheila was perfect, even I was perfect (for a change) (hey, even a broken clock shows the right time at least once a day) and our wedding was simply beautiful in every way! Surrounded by people we love, sharing our joy with them just as they shared our sorrows with us when we lost Frank and Bunny, vowing to honor each other as we start our brand new life together, we couldn't ask for a better start to our marriage!

I said at the start of this post that I was wrong, that I didn't think marriage would change anything between us, and I meant it. I never expected to be even more in love with Sheila than I am, yet now, a few days after the wedding, I do love her more. I never expected to be more proud of her, yet here I am, busting with pride over the fact that the wonderful soul is my wife. I never expected the emotional "tears in my eyes" to continue to well up at the thought that this beautiful woman was willing to make the lifetime commitment to stay with me forever. I never expected to feel differently after the vows, but I do.

Our "unofficial"official wedding pic

This is also, in many ways, the end of this part of the story. What started out as a blog dedicated to the memory of one deeply rooted spirit has evolved into the unveiling of another vibrant force in my life, injecting even more meaning and love into my soul than I ever thought possible. And I thank you all, truly, from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to share this life evolution with you. I never expected to have so many people reading this blog and I'm humbled by the many kind words you have given me.

Of course, being the Jersey-bred blabbermouth that I am, the writing will continue. I am in the process of converting the blog over to a new/larger/better hosting service which will allow for expanded coverage and more content. I expect this to take a few weeks as I sort out how to get that done, but I promise to keep you all updated with my progress. For those that subscribe to the blog, you'll be sent the new information as soon as it is finalized. For those that receive the information via various social media services, you should be able to continue to view the blog in the same manner as you have up to this date.

If you want to be sure to stay linked to the blog, please feel free to send an email to me at egbassga@gmail.com with the word "subscribe" in the title ... we'll be sure to keep you updated.

Sheila and I both thank you all for your amazing support!