When we put
the top of our wedding cake in the freezer (to be enjoyed at our
first anniversary) we had a vague idea of what married life would
be like. We had no idea that our first anniversary would see me
with serious health concerns, pregnant, and my husband without
a job. The celebration of that day made us truly appreciate each
other and our marriage.
Because of
our strict budget, I had planned to spend our anniversary at home.
I was going to surprise my husband with a romantic dinner and
then we would going to watch our wedding video while we ate the
top of our wedding cake. Determined to find the perfect gift,
I hopped on to eBay to see what I could find. I quickly discovered
that the traditional first anniversary gift is paper, and as it
happened, Metallica (both mine and my husband’s favorite
rock band) was going to be playing two days after our anniversary
in a city nearby. I jumped into bidding for the tickets with extra
money from a side bartending job in hand. The bidding stopped
about $20 short of my budget. I had found my “paper”
gift – Metallica tickets. It looked like my plans were going
to come off perfectly…boy, was I wrong!
I was disappointed
when I took the cake out of the freezer only to find it had mold
spots growing on it (I didn’t know we were supposed to wrap
it in plastic wrap AND put it in a Tupperware container!). I began
to get anxious when we couldn’t find our wedding videos
anywhere. I really started panicking when the paper coupon book
I had made to go with the tickets got destroyed by the dog. When
I found out I had to have a rather major medical procedure the
day after our anniversary and wouldn’t be able to attend
the concert with my husband, I began to suspect a conspiracy.
I took the
spare $20 and a picture of our wedding cake to a talented friend
of mine, and she agreed to recreate the top for me. The evening
of our anniversary, everything went off without a hitch. The romantic,
candlelit dinner was superb. The wedding cake top was so perfect,
my husband didn’t even suspect that it wasn’t the
original. I had even managed to track down our wedding video,
and my Mom sent it to me with 2 days to spare. When the time for
gift giving came, I pulled out my envelope and handed it to my
husband. When he opened the card and the tickets fell out, the
look on his face was worth all the effort I had gone through.
I explained that I had gotten the tickets before my medical procedure
was planned so I couldn’t go. I told him I had spoken with
his best friend who had agreed to take him.
His mouth
just hung open – gaping like a fish. I began to worry that
maybe he didn’t like the gift as much as I had thought.
After what seemed like an interminable period of silence I finally
asked, “Don’t you want to go?” He suddenly looked
at me and grinned. He handed me my present saying, “I guess
all the struggles this year have brought us closer than we thought
… We really do know each other well.” Curious, I opened
the envelope he had handed me. When I opened the card, two tickets
fell out. With some extra money he had scrounged up, he bought
me tickets to see Metallica as well. Because of his procrastination,
he had waited to get the tickets until after my medical procedure
had been planned. His tickets were a week away near where we had
family we could stay with.
When people
ask me the most romantic thing my husband has ever done, I usually
shock them by saying something about a Metallica concert. Until
I relate the whole story, they don’t understand that our
first anniversary truly demonstrated the love we had for one another.
