My friend Charlene is renewing her vows this year. It is her 27th wedding anniversary.... I'd love to tell you her story, but I couldn't do it justice. So instead, I give you a few photos, and an excerpt from her most recent blog post I Do, Take Two.
You should give her blog a read. It is honest, raw, funny, and beautiful....like my friend.
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"My husband and I have had this “thing” for the past several years about renewing our vows. It started as we approached our 20-year anniversary. I suggested that we renew our vows. His response was swift and definitive and went something like: “No, I did it once and I don’t need to do it again. Besides, you only want to do it so you can have a big party and be the center of attention.”
Well, truth be told, he wasn’t wrong.
The next time it came up was when we were married for 25 years. Through a massive communications breakdown between Husband, one of my daughters, and me, I was under the impression that Husband wanted to renew our vows. I did what any woman would do if she could – I ordered a custom-made dress. Even though I had that beautiful dress, I just wasn’t feeling it that year. When I told Husband I wasn’t feeling a vow renewal, he just shrugged and asked where I had gotten the idea to begin with. My daughter of course.
This year marks the 27th year that we have been married. Now, feeling it – because it’s AC (after cancer) and things that once didn’t matter so much now seem to matter a lot. He was open to it but thought we should wait for a big anniversary, like our 30th. It makes sense, of course, but I couldn’t get comfortable with it. How could I tell him that we had to do it this year because deep down I thought I might not be alive in three years? I didn’t want to say that aloud; but I was definitely thinking it. Perhaps he picked up on it on his own – I don’t know, but we agreed that we would have a vow renewal, just the two of us, on the beach."
Follow her journey at www.justbetweenusgirrls.com.
