Neal and I have our second anniversary coming up (although I keep calling our anniversary our “honeymoon” for some silly reason.) We are again going to be traveling up the North Shore to a little B&B that we enjoyed last year. We were pretty danged smart to get married over a holiday weekend (although not finding accommodations easily for family coming into town, albeit only a few people since we only had about 15 people at our wedding) since we always have a three-day weekend either right before or after our anniversary (unless the date falls within the holiday weekend itself, obviously).
Last year for our first anniversary, we decided that we really couldn’t think of appropriate anniversary presents. We both are excellent gift-givers (if I do say so myself) and both of us always love whatever the other gives us (for Christmas, birthdays, etc.), but we just couldn’t find something special enough to get for each other. We both looked for a couple months but still came up short on something that conveyed how we felt about each other. While we were on our anniversary trip, we happened upon a nice art gallery and found a wonderful piece of art that we both enjoyed. It was a bit pricey for us, but I suddenly had an idea: Why don’t we “pool” the money we would spend on each other for our anniversary and buy something together? I said this to Neal and we discussed it, realizing that the idea was perfect for an anniversary.
An anniversary celebrates the oneness that marriage brings to two people. We are no longer separate entities (spiritually—don’t read too much into that if you aren’t from a Judeo-Christian background and don’t understand the connotations behind the “two becoming one” idea: We are still separate people with separate interest, etc.) but have become one flesh in the eyes of God. Why was Neal trying to find that “special thing” for just me while I was trying to find the “most wonderful thing” for him? Why couldn’t we find something that was perfect for both of us as a married couple? After thinking about it, we realized that there was no better way to express the sentiments of an anniversary than to buy something together that will be used or enjoyed by both of us.
We purchased the piece of art, and it has hung in our apartment ever since. I think of our trip last year and my love for Neal every time I pass by it, remembering how we decided together that it was a perfect fit—not only for our own artistic tastes but for the home we’re busy creating together.
This year, we’re looking at a few options for an anniversary gift for the two of us. Do we want to own land in Scotland? Would we rather have another (albeit larger) piece of art? What will encompass who we want to be as a couple?
We’re not sure yet, but the discovering these ideas together and deciding what WE want is fun and exciting each year. There are no worries that it doesn’t express exactly how I feel about Neal because it will express exactly how we feel about each other and how we view our relationship. How can it not be the perfect gift?
This is such a TOUGH decision. Should we become a “Laird” and “Lady?” Or should we get a cool piece of artwork? I’m so torn!
That’s a perfect idea; I never would have thought of that myself! Owning land in Scotland would be pretty awesome, how many people can say that they own land in Scotland? But it would only be practical if you go visit every year or so; but you guys will decide haha
We keep leaning toward the art, mainly because we found a wonderful artist whose work we are smitten with. I’ve never heard of anyone else doing this, but it definitely works for us, and we don’t have to figure out “the perfect gift” for each other. It takes a lot of stress off, especially since we just racked our brains for Christmas and both also had our birthdays since Christmas.