Oh yeah, we had an anniversary
No, I didn’t forget that we had an anniversary – we just happened to be spending it in Siesta Key and I didn’t preschedule a tribute or take the time to blog on our trip.
This year we (I) determined that we should start exchanging anniversary gifts (the story on that here). We technically did the year before when we bought plane tickets to go back to Hawaii and the first anniversary is traditionally the “paper” anniversary. The traditional gift for a second anniversary is “cotton” – one list recommended a beach towel for a beach vacation – well, we were going on a beach vacation! I knew I was going to buy Lo’s gift while we were in Siesta Key, but I was having a hard time finding what I wanted for him. I really wanted to get him a hat to wear in the sun – one that was made out of material that dries quickly and is light. He has a cotton one, but it’s thick and takes forever to dry if he wears it in the water. I could not find a bucket-style hat anywhere! I looked in at least 15 stores and all the hats either had super wide brims or were fedora style (or wouldn’t cover his ears, which renders it partially useless). So my gift kind of failed, but I did find him a cotton belt in a style that he likes and has trouble finding. I also picked up a paddleball set since we had fun playing that on the beach with our friends, and some alligator jerky, and I wrapped it all in a nice embroidered beach towel. So it was all fine and dandy, but it wasn’t what I intended, so I was a little disappointed.
That worked out just fine because Lo’s gift for me didn’t turn out exactly how he intended either. A couple of months ago I was going to buy a necklace from Kohl’s and was having trouble deciding between two pendants; an owl and a dragonfly. I asked him which I should pick and he said definitely the owl because I have a lot of owl stuff and they’re kind of my thing. I bought it and wear it at least once a week – mostly to work. Apparently he really thought it was perfect for me because he bought me an almost identical owl necklace for our anniversary – without realizing/remembering that I already had one. He figured it out a few days before our anniversary when we were having lunch in Siesta Key after Kelley and I went shopping and I was wearing it! He was so confused and thought Kelley had just bought it for me – when he told Chuck and Kelley about it they thought it was so funny that they just all decided to tell me (before he gave it to me). He liked it so much he picked it out twice! I think it’s a cute story, but he felt bad that he only had one other (much less expensive) thing for me for our anniversary. I reminded him that it doesn’t matter how much a gift costs – it’s knowing that the other took the time to pick something out. So when we exchanged gifts that morning he gave me a Teen Wolf Beavers Wolfmania T-Shirt that he’d ordered. I love Teen Wolf, so I was perfectly happy with that gift and he was able to return the necklace.
Initially we thought we were going to be spending our anniversary in an RV with our friends on our way back from their beach house in Siesta Key – and we were fine with that. But it was determined that we could stay an extra day and still make it back on Sunday so we spent the day recovering from a FUN night out and then the rest of the day/evening at the beach. We watched a wedding on the beach behind us and then turned our chairs back around towards the ocean and watched a group workout. They were training for a 10 mile Tough Mudder race – Kelley and I totally think we could have kept up with them during the workout. It was organized by what appeared to be two trainers, but they took so many rest breaks. We also watched some storm clouds roll in as the sun was starting to set and watched the rain traveling across the sea, though only a few sprinkles ever made it to the beach. We even had a bottle of champagne (beer for Lo) on the beach during sunset. Siesta Key is one of the few beaches that allows (even sells) alcohol on the beach – which makes it even better! The clouds overtook the sun before it had completely set, but it was still a pretty sky and I wished I’d had my real camera with me. I wished I would have taken a picture with the two of us that day, but here are some sky shots instead.
Marriage is pretty awesome – and so is my husband. I would never say that we have a perfect marriage or that it’s never hard, but I think we do pretty well together. I feel bad for people who don’t have what we have – that we are equal partners and actually want to spend our free time together (almost always, lol). I also love that if we are at a gathering, we can split up and hang out separately with people without always worrying about each other. Our biggest issue is definitely communication, which I’m sure many marriages could claim that. But we recognize it and try to do better – and that’s all that one can ask for! Here’s to many more years and beach sunsets (hint, hint)!