My Anniversary

Today marks the 24th year of my marriage to the lovely Jana Lindner Cornell. May we see 24 more. Of course, nothing is guaranteed. So I surprised her this year by arranging for us to renew our wedding vows. It could have been a very simple affair, had I opted not to keep it a secret. But I honestly have been neglectful of being romantic for at least the last decade. So I decided to go all out and have my kids put it together. I delegated the largest role to Bethany and she brought it off very well indeed.

There were so many things that could go wrong. So many things that could have alerted Jana to what was going on. But everything went pretty much as planned. Kaitlyn baked a delicious 3 tier cake (each tier having two layers), pretty good job for a 16 year old. The only big hitch was the guest list. We never all sat down at one time to make it out. I knew not everyone we invited would come, but I didn't want to leave anyone out. But inevitably we did. Had I been able to include Jana in in that part of the planning, we would have nailed that part too. She's just better at that stuff than I am. But I couldn't think of a way to have her make a guest list without having her ask what the guest list was for. Any way this is my public apology if you didn't get an invitation.

I also announced it here, which was fairly safe. She doesn't really read my blog, since we talk fairly regularly about my health and plans for the future. It is rather rare for me to put something here we haven't already talked about. So, while she is always capable of surprising me, that was a very safe bet. The biggest risk was someone put it in the Broadway Christian Church Newsletter. She actually reads that online every couple of weeks. Luckily this wasn't the week. There was also the matter of an invitation coming back to our house. Luckily I intercepted the mail before she saw it. So there were a lot of close calls. But it all came off well.

She was very touched. I started to cry; she was bawling. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Of our parents, our fathers are gone and only my mother was in good enough health to make it. So many people who were at the original ceremony have passed on.

Our preacher performed the ceremony. I was so touched that Randy was able to do it. My dad performed the original ceremony and we played a clip of us exchanging vows. Tracy Hall-Ingram posted some photos online at facebook. In all the excitement, I don't think I got a single picture myself.

Well, I've got to get my morning going. I have CIRCUIT band practice at 9:00. Got to do some arranging for the Groove Duke gig at the Iron Post on Friday. "Mile to go before I sleep," Metaphorically speaking.