1999 was an important year for me:

1. it’s the year Stefano and I got married.

2. it’s the year of my MGUS diagnosis.

But today I want to focus more on number one, our wedding anniversary. Stefano and I were married in the town hall of Florence (Palazzo Vecchio) on May 8, 1999, which means that yesterday was our 18th wedding anniversary.

We didn’t have any plans to celebrate our anniversary this year. Too much going on. But months ago, shortly after Xmas, a close friend of ours told us that he was planning to surprise his wife on her 50th birthday. He asked us if we would be interested in helping him. Needless to say, we were.

We decided to go to the Dolomites, a mountain range located in northeastern Italy, where, before Easter, we rented a two-bedroom, two bathroom Airbnb-type apartment…near the city of Merano.

Then Mom died (on Easter Sunday), and I almost canceled the trip. But Stefano had just returned from a long and exhausting business trip and needed a good rest (note: he had to be relatively near Florence so he could make sure things were going well at work) and, to be quite honest, I needed to get away for a while…The Dolomites were the perfect location…only a 3.5 hour drive from Florence.

So off we went. But I’ll stop here, since I have photos of our stay in the Dolomites and may post a few.

I wanted to end this post by saying that I hope to have many more HAPPY (and HEALTHY!) years together with my Stefano, l’amore della mia vita, my best friend, my partner…the smartest, wisest, most knowledgeable, most headstrong (aiaiaiaiiiii! 😉 ) person I know…Oh, and he’s also tall, dark (although his hair is grayer than it used to be…), and handsome!!!  🙂

Ti amo, moro…

P.S. By the way, you can click on the cartoon to enlarge it…