Surprise!

Next week, my husband, Scott, and I will be celebrating our 30th anniversary. It’s amazing to me that we’ve been married that long. We were pretty young in 1993 and it really feels like we’ve grown up together. Back then, we decided we didn’t want a formal wedding and instead got married on the beach at Magens Bay in St. Thomas. It was just the two of us, we were barefoot, and there were some kids hanging in a nearby tree, watching the ceremony. There were also some drunk Dutch tourists who wandered up and were confused about it being a wedding so they wished us, “Happy birthday!” We laughed so hard and had so many great memories. Since moving to North Carolina 2 years ago, we’ve spent most of our time, energy, and budget renovating my studio space and haven’t done much decorating in our apartment where we have high ceilings and big beige walls. In March, without my knowledge, Scott reached out to a New Jersey artist friend of ours, Enrique Zaldivar, and commissioned a painting of Magens Bay where we stood 30 years ago, with our toes in the sand, and took our vows. Enrique’s paintings always have such bold, beautiful colors, vibrancy, and warmth. Scott enlisted the help of another New Jersey friend (shout out to Mike Draper) to package up the painting and mail it down to us. When it arrived last week, I was so surprised and touched. It will be a real pleasure to have it hanging in our apartment, reminding me of that happy day so many years ago and all the adventures since.