The Shine On The Usual

Yesterday, in case you missed it, was the six year anniversary of the day my husband and I exchanged our vows. It's the one time of year you can pretty well count on us to do something different from the norm and set time aside for just us. This year, we failed. Circumstances far beyond our control stepped in to insure that we spent our anniversary in a normal, everyday kind of way.

We had already made the command decision to stay home from church so as not to inflict our lack of health on anyone else. We all lolled about in bed until our stomachs drove us to the kitchen. As we sat and ate our breakfast, the kids chattered about all the fall colors. Memories from my childhood flooded my head reminding me of long, winding back roads and ancient trees reaching towards the sky with their coats of colors. I smiled and announced we were going on a leaf ride after breakfast.

It was not the best-est leaf ride I have ever been on. With all the rain, the trees just aren't their usual bright colors. But the enjoyment of getting out of the house, the change of scenery, the fun music on the radio, it all mixed in to make a very nice distraction. We stopped in at Wally Market to grab up a few things that were needed to get us through since I had not been to the grocery store in over a week, and continued on our way back home.

It was then that I realized that there was no way I was going to make it all the way back to the house without starving to death. I needed a coke and some salty fries. McDon@ld's was the only thing that could keep rescue me from certain death.

When we finally made it back home, the kids romped around a bit enjoying the sunshine, and then everyone except me went to lay down for a nap. I tip-toed to the sewing room and made myself comfortable.

We had spaghetti for dinner. It later occurred to me that we could have eaten by candlelight, in honor of our anniversary, but at the time, I was more concerned with getting food in everybody's little bellies. After dinner, we had planned to carve pumpkins, but that fell flat due to a terrible lack of planning on my part.

We'll have to do that some other time.

We put the kids to bed, and settled in to enjoy the evening in our own separate ways. It was highly un-romantic.

Tonight, however, we put the kids to bed and left them in Granny's care as we went off in search of chocolate. I suggested a favorite country food restaurant that has been tempting me with advertisements of scrumptious chocolate fudge cake. Tonight, we went and had ourselves a dessert date. We discussed politics, religion, our family, ideas and goals and dreams. We joked on the waiter, who was a hoot. I wrapped up in Joshua's jacket, which smells wonderfully of him, of familiarity, of comfort. We held hands and meandered about the country store.

It may not have been a big anniversary get-away, but it was a get away. And our anniversary? It was a reflection of our lives, and the contentment found there in.

It was all perfect. Right down to the french fries.