May 21, 1983

It started out simply enough – the sun was shining, a few birds were chirping.

We were getting married that day.

There was no large hall booked. No long flowing gown or tuxedo.

Six bottles of champagne were chilling and some deli trays were waiting.

We started our married life simply. It worked for us.

I love going to big weddings and seeing all the fun and love and family sharing a moment in a long line of married moments. We had not been to a lot of weddings when our day arrived, but it never crossed our mind to have that type of day. We wanted to pay for it ourselves and a big event was not what we could afford.

We wanted to get married. Beyond that, everything was just icing on the cake (there wasn’t even one of those).

We have had two anniversary parties in 33 years. One was a surprise (for both of us) by our neighbours – who actually thought it was our 25th when it was our 30th (that’s a whole other story). They told us that everyone was wearing their wedding dresses and suits, but when we arrived, we were the only ones dressed that way (Tim’s wedding suit was long gone, but I squeezed into the cocktail dress I was married in). The other guests were dressed as groomsmen and bride’s maids. It was a great deal of fun.

A while after our 30th, I surprised Tim with a small get together. It was fun, but simple. Twenty friends in the backyard, with amazing food and some laughs. The sun was shining, birds were chirping.

So, tomorrow our thirty-third anniversary will be something like May 21, 1983. I hear there’ll be some family around a table and pizza is on the menu.

Hopefully the sun will shine and the birds will chirp.