Fifteen YEARS, Man!

Somehow, giving myself permission to blog about being depressed freed me up to feel other things. Life has been pretty good for the last couple of weeks--even if it's been too crazy to write. One of those good things? Big A. and I finally caught up on some important stuff.

 

Fifteen Steps to Celebrate Your Fifteenth Wedding Anniversary

Both partners:

1.       Keep saying, “We have that great gift card for dinner! We should go out for our anniversary. Can you call the sitter?” and “Okay, for what night?” only to be interrupted by “MOM!!!!” or “DAD!!!!” or “There’s a spider in the tub!!!!!”

2.       Repeat for months.

3.       Finally pick a random night six months after your anniversary and book the sitter without looking at the calendar. If you look at the calendar, you will not pass Go or collect a dinner for two.

4.       Frantically run around getting all the basic housework and last minute office work done so you can go out with a clear mind. (You won’t succeed, but you’ll feel better if you try.)

Divide the following tasks:

5.       Call the restaurant and ask for a quiet booth, sheepishly admitting that you are, in fact, celebrating something special—your anniversary—without going into details. Or dates.

6.       One partner shower early, put on “getting the sitter” clothes, dump the kids in the car, and go get the sitter. Change out of “getting the sitter” clothes into “going out” clothes.

7.       Throw together something (hopefully) easy for the sitter to cook, since you weren’t organized enough to plan dinner this time.

8.       One partner shower later, getting ready just in time to leave.

9.       Accept compliments from your kids, which may or may not relate to “smelling good” and “looking tall.” Don’t think about them too hard.

10.   Drive…efficiently…across town to make the six o’clock reservation. Why did six o’clock seem like a good idea, anyway?

Both partners:

11.   Spend half an hour talking about what you can talk about besides the kids.

12.   Relax over the menu and some adult beverages.

13.   Eat without wiping or cutting anything for anyone else. Talk without hearing “Do I have to eat this?”

14.   Get an appetizer. And dessert. And coffee.

15.   Spend three hours remembering why you fell in love.

Happy Anniversary!