Everlasting Irony

We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this week. The celebration has been about 5 months in the making. Back in April, Sam proposed all over again while we were on a hike with the kids. He says I've been complaining for the past 25 years that he didn't do it right the first time and he wanted a re-do. Frankly, I love the fond memory of the hilariously botched attempt. It worked, and that's all that matters.

Knowing that I'm a planner, he proposed to me months in advance so that I could take over the planning of the grand party he wanted to have, complete with vow renewals and a new ring. Guys, that man of mine rocks gift giving like nobody's business, but somehow he missed this one. A grand event where I'm part of the center of attention is not my idea of a great time. And the ring was another matter. Sam and Becky collaborated to get me a ring from Etsy, which I dearly love. It's small, simple and so cheap that it barely counts as jewelry. Perfect. I'm just not a jewelry person. At all. I wear my wedding band and a watch. Other than that, I add earrings when I leave the house. I do love bracelets, but they're not practical to wear when working. All the jangling and shuffling gets to be bothersome, but I collect them nonetheless. I take bracelets with me every time I vacation, and usually collect a new one while away. They're fun.

Over the summer months, we had conversations about the party, and finally decided to just have friends over for a cook out. We used the pizza over that Sam and Luke have been working on (and isn't finished yet) and had a great time. It was the best 25th anniversary party that'll ever be held in our honor. It was perfect.

And I didn't get a new ring, which was also perfect. Sometime in May, just out of the blue, Sam asked me if I was coming home from a conference with a tattoo. This is the man who is inherently opposed to tattoos, and wasn't any too happy when Becky got her first. I vaguely wondered if it was really my husband that I was talking to, or if, maybe, he'd been kidnapped by aliens. Conversations upon my arrival home turned into the decision to get matching tattoos to commemorate our 25 years of marriage rather than spending money on gifts for each other, such as another ring. I was down with that.

Ironically, I have bracelets permanently attached to my wrist. I'm not a jewelry person, but I do love them. That man knows how to give good gifts.