September 1 ~ Begin Anniversary

In celebrating our anniversary we are acknowledging and giving thanks not only to each other but to our Parents & their Parents before them. Both of us being given a solid foundation deep in faith, steep in tradition and warm with love, we had a place to plant out feet and nurture our family of four. We move on to gather more years under our belts with anticipation, hope, optimism and a sense of humor - hey, you gotta laugh at the small stuff, pick your battles & keeping on moving forward!

This year we retreated to Sonoma. The land of leisure and home of comfort & sereneness.

Kaitlin & Breana spent time with their Nanni Begin as Dan & I biked into town for breakfast. I was ensured that this 5 mile trek into town was going to be a fun - I hadn't laughed my way into town before - somehow Dan thought this was going to be different. And it was.

Maybe being a year wiser in age and in marriage helped us get into town in good spirits - maybe it was because we used that time to smell the vineyards and discuss things to get us both on the same page - maybe because there was lunch at the end of the line...maybe...

For dinner we opted to stay in - while we could have dined out just the two of us, we had a delicious meal prepared by Dan assisted by Kaitlin & Breana. We all know that dining around a table filled with love & laughter [...and wine ;) ]are the best!

Dan had picked up "The Prophet" and serendiptiously opened the book up to the pages below. He read it to us as we feasted on filet mignon with a glass of Cabernet in hand overlooking the Morningsong vineyard.


When all was said & done, our meal was complete. Warm with nourishment, words & love we sat back and gave thanks.