As I mentioned on this site recently, Al and I marked our second wedding anniversary on October 6. My mom e-mailed a few days later to ask if we'd done anything special to celebrate, and I responded with the following:

Since Al was home sick from work that day, we just ordered Chinese food in rather than going out. We're going to Mechanicsburg this weekend for an overnight stay (he has to work out there on Friday), but that's not really anniversary-related. Hope to see some fall foliage.

As it turned out, our two days in Mechanicsburg were more anniversary-related than I could have imagined, in that (a) the drive out there and the tooling around in the car reminded us of our honeymoon road trip, and (b) two days of Al pointing enthusiastically at his childhood landmarks ("that's where my best friend, Steve Schaeffer, lived—right behind us!" and "there's Jorgen Harle's house—his dad was an architect!" and "that copy store used to be a 7-11, and the Tasty Freeze was over there, and wait, where's the Drug Fair? we used to ride our bikes there like every day...") made me fall in love with him all over again.

It was so special to be able to learn about Al's childhood—a childhood that was obviously very happy—and to understand why he speaks so fondly of Mechanicsburg. As we walked around his old elementary school playground and down Main Street, drove around his old neighborhood, visited old haunts like Jo-Jos Pizza and Capital City Mall, and photographed intersections, shops, pathways, and portals, I began to feel a part of his whole life, not just his adult life.

Over the course of the weekend, I became more sure than ever that he'd be a wonderful father, that enduring endless I told you sos from all those "nyah, nyah, you'll change your mind" hosers would be worth it to provide this incredible man the opporunity to parent. I'm not sure anyone else could have convinced me to have a child—or made me as happy to be along for the ride. I am so glad I married this man.

Oh, and we saw some amazing fall foliage. See the photos.