First Dance

So probably the best time to be writing this post is not when I'm a ball of 35 weeks prego hormones, but here it goes anyways. Grace had the stellar idea to share our first dance song, so it opened the door for some wedding reminiscing. Stephen and I are coming up on our second anniversary and my sister Maria keeps saying that I need to change my blog description since it still says that I'm newly married. In some ways I guess she's right (things are definitely different since the moment that we looked at each other bright-eyed and a little naive at the altar)...but I still feel like we are freshly married since I know that we have so, so much left to learn about marriage and each other. The challenges and experiences we've been through since our wedding day have purified and enriched our relationship, and as we've learned more about each other's faults (I still feel like I have way more than Stephen) we've also learned more about the sacrificial side of married love. And in spite of (or because of) it all, I still look at Stephen and wonder how God blessed me with such a kind, wonderful, and loving husband (who also happens to be handsome too, ha).

For our first dance, we chose Till Kingdom Come, the Coldplay version. We didn't have a song that was particularly meaningful to our relationship (well, besides this song by Airborne Toxic Event that was playing the night we met and also fitting since we met sometime around midnight - it's not exactly appropriate or fitting for a wedding dance though). We both love Coldplay - the concert they did in the stadium at Michigan State is one of our top 10 favorite things we've done together - and I love, love the lyrics of Till Kingdom Come.

"Til Kingdom Come"

Steal my heart and hold my tongue.
I feel my time, my time has come.
Let me in, unlock the door.
I've never felt this way before.

The wheels just keep on turning,
The drummer begins to drum,
I don't know which way I'm going,
I don't know which way I've come.

Hold my head inside your hands,
I need someone who understands.
I need someone, someone who hears,
For you, I've waited all these years.

For you, I'd wait 'til kingdom come.
Until my day, my day is done.
And say you'll come, and set me free,
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.

In your tears and in your blood,
In your fire and in your flood,
I hear you laugh, I heard you sing,
"I wouldn't change a single thing."

The wheels just keep on turning,
The drummers begin to drum,
I don't know which way I'm going,
I don't know what I've become.

For you, I'd wait 'til kingdom come,
Until my days, my days are done.
Say you'll come and set me free,
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.

One of the things that I reeeaaallly wanted to do before the wedding was take dance lessons, but medical school got in the way of it and we never had time. So instead a friend of mine who is a dance teacher came over a couple nights before the wedding and gave us a mini-lesson. Funny thing is that when it was time for the real deal, I got flustered after a couple steps (Stephen was just fine even though I am usually the dancer in the relationship) and we went back to regular old 6th grade slow dancing.

And some reception pictures. Stephen's not a big dancer normally (I usually have to drag him out onto the dance floor when we go to weddings) but we both danced like crazies during our wedding reception. One of the highlights was when we both were picked up in chairs for the Horah (wedding dance courtesy of my Jewish relatives).

And, our wedding video (password is HoEnkE)...it's 35 min long; you can skip ahead to our wedding dance at 29:45 (I just rewatched it and it made my cry - no surprise there).

Hoenke 2012 from MQTcinemaCOALiTiON on Vimeo.