Celebrate Your Anniversary in a Unique Way

A nephew and his fiancée are currently in the whirlwind of bridal showers and wedding preparations. They are young and I am afraid, after this parade of presents and parties, their anniversaries will be disappointing. Better to start off minimalist and build together. If you received every item on your registry, what is left to purchase together? Half the fun of marriage is discovering how much you do not know about your partner's shopping habits. Believe me, the only item my nephew possibly picked out for the registry was the Bar-B-Q tool set at Target. He is clueless as to all other items feathering the nest.

After a year of marriage, he will be lucky to remember his anniversary date and come up with the appropriate present and celebration. I watch these two young lovers and certainly wish them the best. The wedding is exciting, but it is the anniversaries ahead that tell the tale.

I married a realist. He chose the wedding date, September 1st, because it is opening day of dove hunting season and he would remember it. I could justify it since doves are a sign of peace and love. I thought it was a good omen. He did not go hunting on our wedding day.

We had a quiet ceremony in front of a Justice of the Peace and a luncheon afterwards with some friends and family. This was and is my first marriage and the third for him. He has custody of his two boys, so the overall wedding excitement was a bit ho-hum for his family. Not only was he marrying for the third time, it was to a Yankee girl. And if you find that sort of thinking shocking in this day and age, well I can assure you it is alive and kicking. However, push fast forward and the marriage is sticking, the boys are grown, and his family could not be nicer. I passed the test of years.

Some years my husband did go dove hunting. He would leave early in the morning whispering "Happy Anniversary". When I awoke, a card would greet me along with flowers or a candy treat. Home in the early afternoon, he would nap and then awaken to surprise me with dinner, either at a restaurant or at home with his own cooking skills. This is why I married the man. He could cook sour cream enchiladas or mouthwatering manicotti. A simple meal at home is a precious present.

We are not into traditional celebrations, and frankly do not enjoy dressing up for dining and dancing. The key to a successful anniversary is acknowledging what you both enjoy and share together. Often our anniversary present is a gift for the house that we can both use. I know there is a written list of traditional presents for certain years - paper for the first year, silver at twenty five, and gold at fifty. What year is designated for a new vacuum cleaner?

We chose our fifteenth. It was an unconscious decision, but we had been lugging a huge canister around and it was expelling more dirt than it was picking up. Laughingly, he suggested we stop at the specialty vacuum store, on our way to anniversary dinner, and check out the product. I am not going to say we held hands as we walked around the store, but we did enjoy testing the display models and analyzing the level of vacuum cleaning we required. Is this romance after fifteen years? Yes, it is if you are thinking and making choices together. We gulped, dug out our credit cards, and asked the salesman to charge half to each one. Another key to our marriage is separate bank accounts, but joint decisions on the big purchases. Quirky yes, but we do not argue over finances. That could be the subject of another article.

We did go eat and then came home to try out our new exciting vacuum cleaner, along with attachments. You can decide if we remained clothed or not! It made for a memorable fifteenth anniversary, and each year we can celebrate again by taking our cleaner in for its check-up. I can only hope that my nephew and bride-to-be enjoy years of happiness, memorable outings, and a Year of the Vacuum Cleaner purchase.