it’s rather ironic that last night i was on tv in a wedding dress – or at least jennifer,  the character that i play in the soap that is my day-job, was in a wedding dress – because 16 years ago today, at about 1:15pm, my friend jean, took this picture. she was the only person who witnessed the two people in the picture, get married 15 minutes before.

yes, the person on the left is me. and yes, today it’s been 16 years since i got married  to the man standing beside me, actor **** ****** (his name is easily found when you google mine, i just choose not to mention it here).  so it’s our 16th anniversary, yet it just so happens that we have not lived under the same roof since about october 2003, right after my first trip to burning man – but that’s another story…

they say a picture never lies, so what can we tell from this photo?

• fact: it’s down town at the los angeles court house. #111 hill str. 111  being one of my lucky numbers.
• fact: note the round granny glasses. they were oliver peoples’ and flippen expensive let me tell you! i loved them and wore them for years. (even replaced a pair which got washed away after a champagne induced night time swim on camps bay beach!).
• fact: echoes of hippydom – the hat in my hand has a flower and a peace-sign on it.
• fact: the dress was his choice – bought the day before and proof that i who now live in pants, at one stage wore long, flowing, floral dresses. and yes, i got married in a(n almost) black dress.
• fact: the rings which you can’t really see were bought on monday, sized and picked up on tuesday, at which point we said, ok, i let’s  make it tomorrow. so i guess this pic was taken on wednesday.
• fact: he’s holding a sprig of bougeanvilla with which my friend jean (who i met in an elevator in the hotel ingelterra in rome) arrived, saying, you have to have a bouquet!
• fact: i still used to smoke and the little red drawstring bag  which i bought from someone at the old market theatre fleamarket in johannesburg, and which i thought looked like a strawberry, contained my  cigarettes and lighter. i LOVED that bag, b.t.w. and i used it till it fell apart.
• fact: you can’t see them, but i’m wearing red shoes.
• fact: i was really messed up – it was about 6 months after i’d gotten raped and 1 month after i’d, without realizing it,  moved to l.a., where i would live for the next 12 years.
• fact: after going on 6 years of separation, for whatever reasons, we are still married – a fact which my long-time BF abhors and which has (almost) derailed our relationship a number of times.

so, i’ll let the picture tell the rest of the thousand words, but today, on our 16th anniversary i think i need to call my husband and ask him for a divorce.

it’s about time, don’t you think?