My wife and I had been planning for weeks. Our wedding anniversary was on a Friday this year and we were going to make the most of it. We were going to spend the whole day together, just the two of us, which doesn’t happen very often with three young kids. We arranged for my in-laws to take the kids overnight so we could sleep in for once on a Saturday morning. We both took the day off of work. Heck, I even made dinner reservations. The only obstacle we had was getting the kids off to school and then picking them up and getting them to grandma and grandpa’s house. It was going to be a day of rest, relaxation and togetherness to celebrate our 16 years of marriage . . . or so we thought.
Our plans began to change when we realized that our boys had the day off of school for teacher-in-service. The situation was further complicate by my youngest son’s 7:30 Friday night basketball game. Then we found out that our oldest had a 10:00am basketball game Saturday morning, which means he has to be there at 9:30 and the gym is a good 20 minutes away. Our plans for a day alone together were crumbling around us.
It didn’t help matters when my youngest son started making plans for a “family fun day” on our collective day off. First he wanted go out to lunch, then he decided that we should go ice-skating, then he changed it to a movie. The plans changed with nearly each passing moment, but one thing was clear: we weren’t going to get our day to ourselves. Fortunately, my in-laws agreed to take my son to his basketball game Friday night, so we at least got to go out to dinner, just the two of us.
What started out as a day of rest, relaxation, and togetherness for my wife and I ended up being a day of running errands (the boys really did need a haircut), house cleaning (because we have a terrifically hectic weekend ahead of us), ice skating (for those of you who know me, you can imagine how many bruises I now have), and family time together.
Although my wife and I were planning on being alone together on our anniversary, how can you complain about family time?