Our 5th Anniversary

For our fifth anniversary we returned to my hometown of Franklin, PA, where we were married at St. Patrick's Church. While I had hoped to go somewhere warm for our anniversary, it wasn't in the cards.

An architect from New York City bought a mansion in what had been the exclusive Miller Park neighborhood on a hill above Franklin about 10 years ago, restored it, and now operates a B&B.

The mansion was built as a wedding present for the daughter of a man who made a fortune during the oil boom in Venango County at the turn of the 20th century. The mansion is located in what had been the exclusive Miller Park, and this place was magical when I was a child. The homes are huge, even bigger when you're a kid, and I just remember how the owners would go all out decorating at Christmas time.

I picked Seth up from school, and we headed north. My parents were going to watch him for the night, but I wanted to get him settled in. He hasn't spent the night without me, or at my parents' by himself, and I didn't just want to drop him off and be gone, like I could do with the girls. Sal met us in Franklin after coming up from Steubenville. Everything went according to plan, and Seth was fine with us leaving.

We had dinner reservations at Bella Cucina's, the only upscale restaurant in Franklin, and then we returned to the bed and breakfast to just hang out and relax, child-free, for the night. We had booked a suite so we had a separate sitting area with views of Franklin.

We agreed that the overnight stay and dinner would be our anniversary gift to each other, and we exchanged cards. It was perfect.

While it doesn't necessarily feel like we just got married yesterday; it does seem impossible that five years have gone by already. Onward to 10.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's been almost 8 months

I'm not sure why I'm posting this now. Eight months seems like such a random milestone. Why not 6? Why not wait until 12 months, a full year? But no, 8 months it is. Nearly 8 months ago I left my husband of 5 years. I left 4.5 years later than I should have. Surprised? Those of you who thought you knew us as a couple probably are. We appeared to have it all. You saw what we wanted you to see. You saw us as you wanted to see us. You knew us as we wanted you to know us. And, yes, you knew us as you wanted to know us. The signs were there. Hindsight is always 20/20. About this time a year ago I was living moment to moment, but not so as to soak in each moment. I lived moment to moment because it's the only way I could get through the day. I fell asleep at night only to be awakened by one or both of the girls crying in the morning. I would lay there, eyes shut, thinking "Please no, don't make me get out of bed and live this life". The crying would continue and...
Read more

Girls Weekend

In what may seem like complete craziness on my part, I want to take the Sarah and Emily to Disney World before school starts in the fall. I’m not kidding when I say it’s been a long year and I feel like we just need to get away to the happiest place on Earth for a few days. Kevin and I took the girls to Disney last January for his brother’s wedding so I do have some idea of what I’d be getting myself into. That helps. Sarah still talks about that trip. She remembers flying on the purple plane (Southwest), throwing up in the castle (at breakfast with the princesses), and riding Dumbo (she must have ridden it no less than 20 times and of course it had the longest lines). I still remember the sheer joy on her face when she met Mickey and Minnie and all the other characters too. Emily was sort of “eh” on meeting them. They were nice from a distance, but when they got too close she dissolved in a puddle of tears. I have been wanting to go back since the day I left and I think it would be...
Read more

Hello World. It's me, Dana.

Sarah and Emily, my adorable daughters, are the "two little girls" going "for a walk in the wide, wide world". Bonus points if you know from which classic children's book this line was shamelessly stolen. . . and slightly modified. Although a writer by day, it may take me awhile to find my groove in these "off" hours as a creative writer while I share my life as a single, working mom of two with you. Here goes. . . I haven't always been single. And I haven't always been a mother. My husband Kevin and I were married at Holy Spirit Parish on May 7, 2005 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Nearly two years later we welcomed our first child, Sarah, into our lives on March 20, 2007. At 5lbs, 10oz she was much smaller than anyone had anticipated, but what she lacked in size she made up for in noise. This is the child that did not sleep through the night (nor did she let her parents sleep through the night) until she was 9 months old. What a joy she was ...
Read more