Looking at the calendar on my desk, I see that two days from now my wife, Diane, and I will celebrate our nineteenth anniversary. The date is circled and there are little red hearts filling the square. "T+D" in thick black letters and the number "19" is written over and over, outlining the date-square. Silly, I know. It's like filling your notebook back in junior-high with the name of your girlfriend. I guess I just can't help myself.
I should mention that this isn't our wedding anniversary. It marks the date I asked Diane to "go steady" - a term, by the way, which didn't exactly get the response I had hoped - not at first anyway. Back then, I wasn't aware that I was so uncool and old fashioned that asking someone to "go steady," was somehow funny. This was something which wasn't lost on Diane, however, for when I finally mustered the courage to pose the question and nervously mumbled, "Will you go steady with me?" she erupted with laughter. Not quite the reaction I was going for. Fortunately, after she sufficiently calmed herself (which took considerable time, I might add), she agreed.
When I think back to that night, in some ways it seems like forever, and in other ways, only yesterday. Some of the most wonderful and memorable times we've ever had together came in those four years prior to our getting married. We faced more challenges and obstacles in those few short years than in any other time in our relationship. Perhaps that's why I'm so careful not to forget this anniversary, and why I decorate this date on my calendar each year like some lovesick schoolboy.
Maybe I'm just being silly, but I don't care--that's just me. Sometimes it's the little things in life and love which hold the most significance and are remembered with particular fondness. So why not celebrate these as we do the more grand events of our lives? It's amazing how focusing on the positive aspects of our lives, no matter how small, can make life just that much more special and worthwhile.
For me, remembering and celebrating our "going steady" anniversary serves as a reminder of where we came from, and what it took to get us to where we are now in our relationship and life together. Maybe it's not as grand an occasion as our wedding day, for example, but in my book it's just as important, and I'm determined to not let that special time be forgotten.
So I'll keep decorating my calendar each year--drawing silly little hearts and writing "T+D." In doing so, I'll remember that awkward kid asking his best girl to "go steady," and being thankful she said, "Yes." And my wife and I will continue celebrating our "going steady" anniversary each year with the same love and excitement we felt that special night so long ago. I'm looking forward to it already. Perhaps being uncool and old fashioned isn't so bad after all.
