One Year Anniversary… a weekend at home

We’ve been married for over a year, legally and everything. We got married on our dating anniversary, so it’s been 5 years together. A monumental celebration for a partnership of any kind.

We woke up on that morning and hustled a friend into taking photos of us on the roof of our apartment building. We each held a framed print of our favorite photos from our wedding day. My cousin (about to get married herself in June) had told us about the idea, and I think it bears repeating here.

We’ll each hold our favorite photo from this rooftop shoot next year, and so the picture-within-a-picture will eventually, one day, stretch to microscopic versions, but a long chain of happy memories will give us a tunnel back to 1-1-11.

After we kicked our friends off the roof (and over to lunch with other friends, never fear!) we went on a mini road trip to collect all the good eats we had last year at our reception. This involved sandwiches from the famous bbq joint Arthur Bryants, a stop at Lamars donuts, and finally a cupcake pickup from HyVee (our grocery bakery). Effectively re-creating our reception meal, we snuggled on the couch and watched the web-cam captured video of our wedding.

I didn’t think I’d ever want/need to watch it, but I’m glad we had it. I was surprised to find myself nervous all over again as the secret vows and public I-do’s we said to each other made me choke up both on camera and in person. I clutched hubby’s hand and couldn’t believe it’s been a whole year since we’d thrown this mighty fine shindig. Sipping sparkling grape juice and staring hard at the last few bites of bbq sandwich taunting me to finish it, I was pleased at the reminder of the vows we took, and that, so far, though I couldn’t recite them word for word to save my life, I’d kept them all — even the “I promise you all the air conditioning money can buy” part.

As we set our plates aside and shared a blanket, queuing up the Central time zone’s New Year’s Eve ball drop, I knew that while we’d been through some of the “for worse” we have also shared so much of the “for better” and I found a renewed resolution to celebrate – not just an anniversary of a beautiful day in a beautiful life together, but all those little things that we do for each other. These small things may not be the same exact things you do for one another, but there are some small things that outshine, outweigh, and outperform the grandest of gestures.

Thank you, sweetheart, for all the surprise bowls of jello you make, the cutting boards you wash even though you hate them, the times you call in our order for Chinese food because I can be shy on the phone, the absent-minded foot rubs during commercial breaks, and always, always kissing me goodnight. Here’s to five years of shared lifetime, and ever after. I love you.