Ninth Wedding Anniversary

When Mark and I married nine years ago today, we never imagined that we’d one day be the parents of three children. In fact, if someone had told us back then that we would have three kids and that they would come in 2 1/2 years, we would have laughed hysterically.

Kids were the last things on our minds. We were ages 22 and 25 when we married, and we were in no hurry to start a family. Mark and I had careers on our minds, and we were more concerned about picking our first home than picking names for kids.

Mark and I were married just shy of six years before Mila and Eli were born. One of the things I’m so glad that we did during those childless years was travel.

At the beginning of our marriage, we decided that we wouldn’t celebrate our anniversary with gifts. Instead, we would go somewhere together. We’d plan a vacation the week of our anniversary or sometime near it.

Together, we’ve been on some incredible adventures and seen some awe-inspiring sights across this country. We’ve been to places like Niagara Falls, New York City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, The Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park and Bermuda.

On each trip, we’d make sure both of us got to choose one thing that we really wanted to do, and we were good sports about it.

Mark convinced me to go on a mule ride down the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s hard to trust a mule with your life while riding down a narrow, winding trail into a deep canyon. After I got over the fear of possibly plummeting to my death, I actually had an enjoyable experience.

One the other hand, I talked Mark into seeing “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway. Afterwards, he actually admitted that it was a fabulous show.

You learn so much about relationships when you’re confined in cars or airplanes for extended periods of time. For example, I came to the conclusion that Mark needed to drive on all long car trip if our marriage was to survive. He seems to think he’s a better driver than I am, and it turns out I’m not so keen on backseat drivers. Now, he gets to drive and feel all safe and in control, and I’m free to listen to the radio, read or fill his ear with endless chatter.

Mark has learned that when I say I need a pit stop to “water and unwater” that I mean I need to go to a fast food establishment, not a gas station. While I know that fast food restrooms are probably just as germy as gas station restrooms, I feel more comfortable in a fast food restroom. It just seems less sleazy.

I also prefer fountain drinks at fast food chains to bottled drinks at the gas station. I have to have iced drinks with a straw. Some people will call this high maintenance, but I call it good taste. These comprises have lead to a happier marriage while traveling.

It’s funny how we never realized how much time we had on our hands back then.
We had the freedom to go wherever we wanted whenever we wanted. We also enjoyed the luxury of sleeping in on the weekends. Now that we have children, sleeping in is more like sleeping until 7:30 a.m.

Since becoming parents, we no longer have the time or the disposal income for vacations quite like those in the past, but we still look forward to spending time together on our anniversary.

Right now our three children are our big adventure. Hopefully, they’ll be intelligent, well-adjusted and athletic little individuals who score some big scholarships. When they’re off at college, I hope we’ll be able to explore more beautiful landscapes, and I can’t think of any other person I’d rather have by my side than Mark.

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