Yesterday my husband and I celebrated fifteen years of marriage. If we didn't have a photo record of all of the hairstyles between then and now, I'd have trouble believing it's been that long.
Oftentimes we'll go to Las Vegas for the milestone anniversaries (here's what we did for our 10th anniversary) because that's where we got married in the first place. However, we'd just been there last summer for BlogWorld Expo, so we decided to do something else.
I took a vacation day and we spent the day recreating our first date from 1992. The plan was:- Lunch at the Chinese restaurant where we first ate together
- Ice cream cones at the nearby McDonald's
- A viewing of "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey"
You know what? Seventeen years is a long time. We realized that when we got to the restaurant I thought had been the site of our first date and we both agreed that it wasn't the right place. Even on the way there, we'd been puzzling over why we would have been in that neighborhood at all back then, considering that I lived a considerable distance away at the time.
The thing is, we hadn't meant to go on a date at all that day in 1992. We'd met up to discuss the idea of putting a band together (which ultimately took us about a decade), hit it off rather well, and decided to go grab a bite to eat. The evening turned into a date, but because we hadn't actually planned it, we didn't take as much note of the particulars as we'd thought.
Thus, we both agreed that we'd eaten at a Chinese restaurant somewhere in the general vicinity of the wrong one, but neither one of us remembered what it was called or where it was. We ended up picking a random, old-school Chinese place and deciding that we were at least following the spirit of our first date, if not the specifics. Our anniversary-appropriate fortune cookie fortunes were, "A chance meeting opens new doors to success and friendship" and "Cookies go stale. Fortunes are forever."
Once we'd blown the restaurant portion of the day, we figured we might as well have a good ice cream cone, so McDonald's gave way to Baskin-Robbins. Mmm, chocolate almond!
I had the Bill and Ted DVD all ready to go, but my husband thought it might be fun to go to a movie in a theater, which we seldom do these days. Thus, we finished out our day seeing "New Moon." It was even his idea, I'll have you know.
Neither of us was ready for dinner after the movie, so we ended up grabbing some fast food tacos right before my bedtime. My husband spent most of the night suffering from food poisoning, which he suspected came from the restaurant where we had lunch. So much for choosing randomly.
I don't know what we'll do for our 20th, but I'm thinking it might be time to break away from our history and do something bold and new. Any suggestions?
Congrats!
Posted by: May | December 10, 2009 at 02:48 PM
congrats on the anniversary....sounds like fun....well up until the whole food poisoning! I applaud you taking the time and effort to at least make your anniversary special..
Posted by: Melanie | December 10, 2009 at 03:20 PM
The whole evening sounds awesome. I am really bad at anniversary things, so I'm afraid I have nothing to offer there. I don't think Jack and I ever went on a "real" date! If it were me I'd have a huge party and invite all my friends.
Posted by: Kim | December 10, 2009 at 03:31 PM
congrats on 15 years! that is great... we just went to Cayman Islands to celebrate my inlaws' 50th... I highly recommend island lounging for anniversary celebrating.
Posted by: Cindy | December 10, 2009 at 04:01 PM
Happy anniversary!!
I think we should do Vegas again for your 20th. The trip for the 10th was so much fun! Maybe we could roadtrip to Area 51 - I bet you could find someplace in nearby Rachel to renew your vows.
Posted by: cagey | December 10, 2009 at 05:06 PM
I am so touched by the whole of your post that I'm sure it'll make me smile most of the day.
Congrats you two! Even with the food poisoning and brushes with nostalgic recreations, you have such a positive disposition.
Posted by: LuAnn | December 11, 2009 at 09:46 AM
Happy Anniversary. I'm so sorry your husband got food poisoning though. Icky.
Anyhow, I admire your 15 years and can't wait till I can blog the same! (in 15 years and 2 months. :) )
Posted by: Queen of Quirky | December 14, 2009 at 04:34 PM