On May 14, 2005, we got married overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
On May 14 ten years later, we had a view of the East River from the hospital where Max had jaw surgery (mandibular distraction) to hopefully help his sleep apnea. Mark spent our anniversary night on a hospital couch instead of an ocean-front Ritz Carlton suite. Not quite as scenic, but the next morning the view included this trooper reading on a couch as he got ready to head home and we couldn’t be happier.
Much has changed in 10 years (including our home address four times), but much is the same. Then, Brittney made Mark learn an elaborate choreographed routine.
Mark has not danced much since then, except for Saturday morning ballet with Julie, when he is proud to say he never marks it.
Then, Brittney worked on bizarre film projects. Now Max is making almost-as-interesting music videos in a local film making class.
Then, we had an awesome ice cream sundae bar that we missed because we were too busy dancing. Now we are having ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner as Max adjusts to a soft foods diet for the next few months (plus Nonna’s favorite Magnolia Bakery cheesecake and an occasional kale-hemp milk smoothie). Five days after his procedure, Max is almost back to his usual cheerful self, playing lots of checkers, Go Fish, and his new favorite card game, Solitaire, doing word puzzles with Nonna, reading with Aunt Ashly, visiting Daddy’s work twice, and enjoying fun presents from friends and family. We started turning the distractor today (for those of you interested, an explanation of the surgery) and it didn’t seem to bother him as long as he was watching Superfriends. A sleep endoscopy Wednesday morning and a sleep study next Sunday night will tell us more about the results of the surgery and how much more we need to turn it. He may go back to school as soon as this Friday, though we probably won’t let him anywhere near a playground for a while as he has to be very careful about falling or hitting his jaw.
When I first looked at our wedding pictures after our honeymoon, I told Mark in 10 years I wanted to have the party over again, gathering all my friends and family together at a beautiful location for great food and dancing. That didn’t quite work out, but it’s been wonderful feeling everyone’s love and support and enjoying some extra time with our lovely family of four.
