43 Years

Today is our 43rd anniversary. You'd think by now we could ace the Newlywed Game or some other game show about how well do you know your spouse.

Maybe. Maybe not.

For instance, this morning, at breakfast, I served orange juice in two pretty little glasses engraved "20th Anniversary". I told him the girls had given us those glasses 23 years ago. "Hmmm, I'd have failed that question on a game show," he said. That's ok. They have been mostly on display for the last 23 years. This morning I chose to use them.

However, there have been times when we have been so in sync it is positively scary.

There was the Christmas we gave each other the same gift. We bought each other bath towels with ducks on them. True...we had spent the whole trip south to Florida from our vacation in Connecticut stopping at outlet malls looking for duck towels to go in our newly redecorated bathroom featuring mallard ducks. We hadn't found any then. Yet, 5 months later, there were several towels in wrapped boxes under the tree.

There was the Christmas we bought each other Christmas cards that looked different on the outside, but had the exact same message in it!

Sometimes it can be scary.

And then there was yesterday. We are in the middle of this move. We've been overwhelmed by the unpacking. There are address changes to make, insurance to set up, auto tags to apply for. Plenty to do, and little time to get it all done. (The kids are popping in for a visit with the grand kids in a little over a week from now.) Lots to get us sidetracked. So I tentatively asked him the other night, "We aren't exchanging gifts are we?" He glanced over. "Uh-uh" he says with conviction. OK. Phew... because I hadn't had a chance to even think what to get him!

Of course I didn't want to be completely unprepared so yesterday, I ran out to Walmart to pick up a prescription AND to get him an Anniversary card. I came home and tried to sign it behind his back before we went out for the day; Movie, sofa shopping and dinner at my favorite restaurant. I planned to present the card at dinner. It was the perfect card... It started out "Today is the day to drop everything, ignore the demands, put the world on hold..." Yes it was, and we were doing just that!

He saw what I was doing and looked sheepishly at me. "Ummm, I didn't get you a card."

"You WHAT? You didn't GET me a card????" Incredulous, yes. (But honestly, not upset.) However, I had to rub it in. I left the card at home, and reminded him he still had a day to get me one. He wasn't off the hook yet!

After we bought the sofa, later that afternoon, we had some time to kill before dinner and I saw him scoping out the cards in a gift shop.

This morning we exchanged our cards at the breakfast table. Our day to 'drop everything' was past, but the rest of the card still said what I felt. I opened his card. There was a hot fudge sundae on the front with lots of whipped cream and two cherries. (My kind of dessert!)

"Building a life with you is the sweetest treat of all"....it said. "That says it all" he added.

And that's what anniversaries are all about. Celebrating the present, the past, the moment, the memories. Appreciating the moments when you are in complete sync, and laughing about the moments when you are in two different orbits.

And this year... just being glad to make it to the end of the day still smiling, and looking forward to a good night's sleep. And ready to do it again, tomorrow!

Happy Anniversary, Honey! Here's to Many, Many More!!