For our 10th anniversary I had all these grand plans dreams for how we would celebrate. I mean we made it a decade with one another and we still want to be married, while most marriages don’t make it four years.
An anniversary to remember or forget
It was going to be an epic anniversary and celebration. Vow renewal, a great gift, a trip to an island, all accompanied by the family and friends who have meant so much to us throughout our marriage. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way. In fact, I can’t even remember what we did on our 10th wedding anniversary.
Ultimately, we “postponed” our grand anniversary plans to anniversary #11. When it didn’t happen that year, we just left it as “we’ll do it one day.” Sometimes the more anniversaries that you “celebrate” the less extravagant and more mundane it happens to be. It becomes just another day in marriage.
An anniversary just like every other day
Huffington Post contributor Brittany Gibbons showed us this with her video titled, “A Day in Marriage,” which chronicled her 9th anniversary via her iPhone. The ironic thing about it is both her and her husband forgot their anniversary, until the night before. Upon which they both thought it was their 10th anniversary! LOL
Check out their anniversary video, “A Day in Marriage.”
What are some creative ways to make each anniversary more than a day in marriage?
We will be married 38 years in May. Generally we do nothing “special” on the day. I like to think we do special things throughout the year just because. On our 30th anniversary we renewed our vows. One really nice thing we do each year is to give each other a happy anniversary card on the date of our first date. That’s sort of an anniversary, too.
I like that idea, Hal. I wish we knew the date of our first date. One of the biggest “anniversary” type dates that I remember is the day I proposed, which was on my wife’s birthday.
Love this post, Jackie. It wasn’t for an anniversary, but I did a scavenger hunt for Jasmine to find her gift one time. She still remembers that as her best gift ever, just because I put the extra effort into doing that.
That sounds fun! Great idea!
One way I believe making our anniversary more than an average day in marriage is having a plan ahead of time…like even a month or more ahead of time. By studying our spouse and not just the world around us we can typically figure out what makes them happy. They are just the second most important person in our lives right? 😉 ♥ u & nice post, Babe.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, babe! 🙂
We plan our anniversaries together – for the whole year before it happens. We also mark other dates – when we met, when we got engaged, when our daughters were born – with special events. Sometimes a night out, sometimes an outdoor activity, sometimes a concert etc.
Both my husband and I enjoy the discussion around how we’ll celebrate the next anniversary, and over the year, we spend an evening or two a month considering what we want to do. Currently, we’re on a “dip our feet in as many oceans as possible” phase, so we try to incorporate that goal if possible. We rarely exchange gifts, but we do exchange cards, mostly because of the year that I bought a card for him that I really liked, only to discover when he opened it that it was a birthday card, not an anniversary card! The next year, I got a Happy Bat Mitzvah card on our anniversary. 🙂
‘Mundane’ only happens when there’s no purposeful investment in expressing gratitude for the “We” of marriage. After 34 years, there’s no ‘mundane’ happening here.
I like it, Susannah! A lot! Thanks for sharing.
A good reminder here. Both of us never really put a lot of thought into our anniversary but we ought to be more intentional. I would like to come up with some ideas to make it extra special next time around.
I think that is the key word, Leo. Intentional.
Intentional…yes, that is the key.