Last weekend, David and I celebrated our first anniversary. I'm finding it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that it has been a whole year already, but what an incredible year it has been! I also realized that I never showed you the highlights of our wedding! Excuse the blogging faux-pas. My next post will cover all the gorgeous details and the lovey-dovey glow that comes naturally on wedding day.
To celebrate, we decided to take a road trip down to Charlottesville, Virginia to see some of the vineyards on the Monticello Wine Trail. Allow me to brush off my shoulders before I tell what a FANTASTIC idea this was. It was absolutely beautiful and we were so blessed to have warm, sunny weather while we were transported back to the days of Tommy Jefferson and my dear, sweet Jimmy Madison. The rolling hills, the old fences along the winding roads, it's enough to make you collapse on your porch swing and reach for a glass of chilled Viognier...
Speaking of which, our first stop was Veritas Vineyard. Good heavens. If you ever have a chance, bless yourself and go there. We were lucky enough to sit with two incredibly fun couples for our tasting. We laughed the whole time, and I remembered why I have been missing the south so much. The accent that I picked up while I studied at JMU returned immediately. I found my bliss.
The next day we visited Dave Matthew's Vineyard, Blenheim. We loved this one just as much, because of its homey, earthy feel. Dave designed the tasting room himself and used all recycled material. The back deck looked out on vast farm land, complete with an old tractor.
The next stop was Jefferson Vineyard. Although we didn't have time to visit Monticello (the tour is a bit pricey!), we promised to come back again to see it. Jefferson was more casual than we were anticipating. Beautiful gardens, but not our favorite vineyard.
We pulled over on the side of the road a few times to take in the general splendor, and the most adorable red-roofed church I've ever seen.
We ended our trip with a jaw-dropping and drooling dinner at the Boar's Head Inn. Sipping our wine and chilled cucumber soup (David crunched on a salad that looked like it should have been on display at the Philly Art Museum), we spent some time reflecting on this past year. You can go to all the premarital counseling sessions you want and read all the Christian Marriage books on the best seller's list, but nothing really teaches you about marriage like actually being in it, and roughing out all the ups and downs, awkward hand in awkward hand (Boy Meets World, anyone??). We have learned the undeniable need for grace, humility, laughter, patience, flexibility and long after-dinner walks through town. We've discovered that insecurities and fear don't go away after the wedding day...the need to shave my legs every day has, however. It's so important to support each other and come along side one another during those times of self-doubt. It's not always necessary to provide a solution, just reassurance that we aren't going anywhere and neither is our love. And with that, I'll leave you with some marital advice from the omniscient Pinterest (Pop over to one of my favorite blogs, Today's Letters, for a great post about their marriage):
I love you, david james. with all of me.
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