Celebrating the Celebration of Love

We celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary last week.  

I lie.  

 

It was shamefully less festive than I have just indicated.  

 

We forgot our 31st wedding anniversary last week.  

 

I took a yogurt from the refrigerator in the morning and, as I opened it at work, I checked the expiration date and realized it expired that very day.

 

Unlike others I know, we tend to honor food expiration dates, so I thought I should warn Susan the yogurt expires today. 

 

I texted my wife with a photo of the yogurt label, telling her to look at the date. 

 

She responded by texting, “Big day tomorrow, 31 years married, 37 years together.” 

 

Momentarily confused, I suddenly realized the expiry date on the yogurt label was the date of our anniversary, the day we went on our first date and the day we got married.  

 

She thought the date on the label was tomorrow’s date. 

 

I texted back saying, “It’s today. Happy anniversary! How terrible that we both forgot!” 

I tend to overthink. 

And off I go. 

 

What does it mean?  

 

I don’t believe it’s a reason to panic, but I do think it is a reason to wonder or, at the very least, ponder. 

 

What does it mean to forget we have been married for 31 years? 

 

With her Oura and Apple Watch relentlessly churning out reams of personal information – statistics, analytics and biometrics – surely Susan has enough numbers to worry about. 

 

Drat, I can’t use that excuse. 

 

Let it go?  

 

Maketh not a mountain out of a molehill? 

 

Is it a sign that we are taking things for granted? Certainly; just the way we, unfortunately, take all the good in our lives for granted. That we take the good things for granted is a glaring flaw of human nature. 

 

Does it make us any less appreciative of our relationship? No.  

 

Every day together is a great day together. Am I right? 

 

Even when we remember anniversaries, our celebrations tend toward the underwhelming. 

 

Ah, phooey, we’re both still smiling and kissing. 

 

If we’re lucky, I suppose our anniversaries may unavoidably become more noteworthy. 

 

We have never put pressure on ourselves to overdo anniversaries.  

 

We acknowledge them (when we remember them) and are sometimes even amazed by them. 

 

It's a day like any other, and a day like any other is a reason to celebrate by letting it be a day like any other. 

 

Really, does it get any better than that?