Do You Know What Today Is?

Tim and I are celebrating our anniversary today . . . along with many, many other people. Years ago, when we began planning our wedding, we talked about getting married during the Christmas break. We talked about it for about two seconds then immediately canned that idea because we had no desire to shmoosh something as momentous as our wedding into the middle of two holidays as big as Christmas and New Year's. Better to have it in January, after every one's had a little time to breathe and are then able to devote all their attention to us. It is our wedding after all. Hello!

My mom was responsible for scheduling with the Boise LDS temple. She called a number of times trying to get our sealing scheduled in January, but was continuously told they weren't even doing the scheduling for January yet. After checking in with them yet again, she asked about December and was told they would only be scheduling sealings on one day between Christmas and New Year's. Apparently no one had called yet to schedule a sealing on that day, because the choicest times were still available. In an act which my dad lovingly refers to as one last attempt to control my life, she decided to reserve one of the prime times for our wedding, blatantly ignoring my explicit instructions (I feel that I must clarify here that I am being funny here, not serious. My mother has never tried to control my life).

When she told me what she did, I knew that since this was the only day available for two weeks, it would be a busy wedding day for the temple. So not only would we be competing with Christmas, we would also be competing with two zillion other engaged couples. I had horrible visions of waiting in a long line of other couples waiting to be married while the temple workers and sealers churned out one faceless newlywed couple after another in an attempt to get them all done. I also had visions of my reception being empty because those in attendance heard there was another reception across town with better refreshments, a snazzier color scheme, and karaoke. Surely, all this would drastically diminish the beauty of our special day to share it with so many other people! On our most important of days, which tradition holds that you have every right to expect it to be all about you, we were going to be just another couple celebrating just another event. My mom said that she just scheduled it for this day in case I was interested, and I could change it back to January if I really wanted to. She hit me at a moment of weakness. I was in the middle of classes and tired of thinking, and began to reason that by the time I got to December, I would probably be glad to not have to wait to get married any longer. The date, reluctantly, went unchanged.

To add to the list of cons, as the day neared, I began to discover how many other people I knew who were also married on this very day. They warned me that although a Christmas wedding ensures that I will have no trouble getting a hold of free trees and lights to decorate for our reception, I shouldn't be ecstatic because it also means that we will probably have a hard time ever celebrating an anniversary. There's just too much else going on this time of year. Anniversaries just don't stand a chance of being a priority. Great.

The day came for us, as it did for many others, and as I predicted, I was actually happy to have it come sooner rather than later. Tim, who had just turned 28 (a ripe old age by Mormon standards) was no doubt even happier than I. Although there was a line of couples on the schedule, there was no line to be seen. I felt that our sealing was given as much attention, and held to be just as important as I felt it was. And, yeah, so maybe it was a little crowded, and there was some gawking intruder from another wedding party who stumbled into the background of our picture, but do I look like I care? There were many other receptions being held that evening, but ours, in spite of that and in spite of it being the Holidays, was still full.

As for our anniversaries, I'm afraid to say that the dire predictions rained upon us were true. By the time Christmas is over, it is hard to put the necessary effort into planning a special day on a budget which has already been destroyed by Christmas extravagances. But thankfully, this year I had completely forgotten that I had hidden new bed pillows in the garage in anticipation of surprising Tim with them for Christmas (this is not the first time I have forgotten about Christmas presents I have hidden). I remembered the pillows this morning. Presto chango! Now they are anniversary presents! And even though we didn't take off to spend quality time alone at some exotic locale, we did spend the day doing something we enjoy. No! Not what you're thinking! We worked on a home improvement project which we both derive great satisfaction from. We didn't get each other roses or chocolates, but we found other ways to make each other feel special. For instance, as we were finishing up the preparations for dinner this evening, Tim asked if he needed to add salt to the main dish.

"No," I said, "there is already garlic salt in it."

"How about pepper?" he asked.

"You know what?" I said, "You taste it, and then I'll let you decide if we need pepper. Happy Anniversary, Sweetie."

Such a simple gesture on my part, yet so meaningful to him.

The kids are now in bed, and we'll probably end this significant day by doing the same thing we love to do every evening--curl up on the couch together and make fun of whatever is on TV. Yes, getting married on this day did ruin my plans for the ideal wedding and subsequent anniversaries, but I wouldn't change a thing because it doesn't really matter when I married, but who.

(And in case you're wondering, the song is a joke. It's important to both Tim and I that you know that.)