Our Anniversary

Six years ago, Dave and I were married. We had dated for seven years through high school, college, and work.

The evening of our wedding, we stayed at the Hyatt in Buckhead. We had been chauffeured there by a crazy limo driver who almost pulled head-on into traffic a less than a mile after leaving the reception and who then took us to the Hyatt in downtown Atlanta instead of Buckhead, despite Dave repeatedly telling him Buckhead. Nonetheless, we arrived. And, I was re-energized as we walked through the lobby of the hotel realizing that almost everyone stopped to look at the bride. (Dave keeps telling me that I just need to get my wedding gown on and we'll parade through hotel lobbies in the area for those stopped stares; maybe one day . . . ). We realized we were starving, having eaten only a few bites at the reception, so we walked to a nearby restaurant, where I ate a burger.

For our first anniversary, Dave had a hotel reserved on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Three weeks before we adopted our pup, Mason. I had a kennel reservation for Mason and all was well. Until the day before the trip when Mason got sick and kept throwing up partially digested food. We just couldn't leave him that way, so we stayed home. Not a sick child, but a sick puppy. I'm sure we went out for a nice dinner that's typically what we do.

One year we ate at Gumbo's, a great Cajun-inspired restaurant; another we dined at Carmelo's; we may have eaten at Cool River in Austin since that remains one of our favorite places. Last year we ate at the Cool River in DFW and were not impressed. In 2005, we ate at one of the restaurant's in the Gaylord Texan; I wondered why we were going to a hotel for dinner--little did I know the beauty in the atrium of the hotel, which is set up to represent different areas in Texas; there's a replica of the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and even a saloon. Over our dinners, we reflect upon the time past and anticipate the time that lies ahead.

One year, we celebrated our anniversary at the cabin in Minnesota. Matthew and Cindy (my brother and sister-in-law) had been at the cabin for a few days, but left the morning of our anniversary. Dave and I went to Arthur's, a restaurant with a beautiful view and great food which I mentioned previously is now gone, for dinner. We returned to the cabin to find the shed door ripped open. We ran to the dike to peer over to see if the boats and motors were still there. They were. Slowly we looked at one another realizing a bear had ripped the door open to get to the chicken bones from a previous dinner. Mike and Letha called to wish us a happy anniversary, sharing tales of video they'd seen in Yosemite of bears ripping through truck doors. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well that night.

With our trips to Washington and the cabin in the past month, our anniversary sort of sneaked up on us. So we planned a low key day. I tried to make a reservation for a hot-air balloon ride, but there were no openings. It turns out that was a good thing since it has been raining this weekend, and the ride would have gotten canceled. We're scheduled for next Saturday morning and hoping for good weather. We went shopping for a new dining room light fixture and a ceiling fan. In the rain, we kept encountering bad drivers. We didn't find a light, but we found possibilities. We visited a new Orvis store, where Dave bought fishing gloves. We hit a clothing store where I found two suits for work.

I had a great nap in the afternoon before going off to dinner at Pappas Brothers Steakhouse for a delicious meal of crab cakes (Judy would love these--lots of crab not a lot of cake), lobster bisque (Dave considered ordering a bowl for dessert--it was that rich and creamy), filet mignon (Dave has decided that medium-rare IS better than medium--yes!), au gratin potatoes, asparagus, and gooey pecan pie (no crust, all the sweet, gooey filling, with a scoop of praline ice cream on the side). We finished off the evening listening to a jazz ensemble in the Hilton Anatole's 27th floor bar overlooking the city.

While a good meal is an important part of our anniversary celebrations, the good company sitting across the table is the most important part. Knowing the other will be there when life is dishing out top-grade filet mignon or ground beef is the best feeling of all.