two years

Today is our anniversary. Two years ago today Iffy and I were wed under this tree at the Ship on Desert at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.


The days leading up to the wedding were crazy and hectic. Our families all came and we stuck them in any available pocket of empty space in the housing area at the park. It was cramped, but we made it work.


We went through a lot of beer, dead deer and food. I am eternally grateful to our families for all the hard work they did getting everything set up, and all the wonderful food that Samia made.


If I had it all to do over again, the only things I would change are:


1) I would have had music/dancing


2) I would not have "fallen asleep" so early, and


3) I would make sure that there was a picture taken of Iffy and I together. Yes, it is true Iffy and I have no good wedding photo of just the two of us. One of these days we WILL dress up again and get one.


Last year on our anniversary, Iffy and I (and little Sara inside of me) hiked the Lost Mine Trail early in the morning. As we started out we came across two mountain lions in the trail ahead of us. They were just crossing the trail. One of them looked at us for a bit as the other crossed behind it, then it too went on up the hill away from us, which is the best direction that a mountain lion can go!

Today Iffy is working, but intends on using some comp time and coming home early. We're going to the Starlight for dinner. (www.starlighttheatre.com)

Below are some pictures and the poem that was written for us by our friend Buzz, a volunteer-extraordinaire who spent many years at Guadalupe Mountains.

We were wed by Jo Kincaid, Culberson County Justice of the Peace and former restaurateur (Nickel Creek)

From left to right, my aunt Barbara, Iffy's sister Humera, and our sister-in-law Samia

The hours leading up to the reception were increasingly dark, stormy looking and windy, but somehow, we didn't get rained out.

My nephew James.

Buzz Avrutis and I

*******

This Poem Is Dedicated to My Friends--
Joanne and Iffy
This Twelfth Day of August, in the Year Two Thousand and Six
*
Joanne and Iffy met at Bryce Canyon National Park,
and this is the incident that ignited the spark.
Joanne, a park volunteer, needed a ride to a neighboring town—
suddenly Iffy, a gallant park ranger, came drifting around.

He opened the door, she climbed in,
and quickly saw a hunk, handsome and trim.
She thought about a lot of things, but nothing about a big marriage leap,
while he sat: strong, erect, self-assured, gunning his trusty old Jeep.

It was absurd to give it a single thought. A lowly biology-major volunteer,
while he, an officially-designated ranger, represented the park’s upper tier;
but that combination proved to be a perfect match,
because they both ended up with the perfect catch.

Both love mountains, forests, flowers and streams,
these lovers of nature. And now there are dreams
Of a long happy life together, in a world set apart,
bound together forever, by love, in a national park.

--Hilliard “Buzz” Avrutis