The Wedding Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary; Kellie and I have been married for 15 years.  But we sometimes have trouble remembering the date. A card from my mother is often the first reminder that the day is approaching.  Several years ago, my mom came to California for a visit, and she was with us during our
anniversary. Like me, my mother is an early riser, and one morning when I awoke, she was already downstairs, sitting on the living room couch, reading.  I said good morning and sat down beside her. Mom handed me a card.

"What's this," I inquired.

"You forgot?" my mother asked.

"Forgot what?" I said, still not recognizing the date.

"Just open it..."

As I opened the card, I realized that I had forgotten our anniversary.  I was consoled by the fact that I was sure that Kellie had forgotten it too.  My mother was incredulous that both of us had failed to remember our own anniversary and that neither one of us was the least bit upset about it.  Kellie and I are hardly romantics.  We're are more like two actors in long running comedy.

We nearly forgot again this year; Kellie remembered while we were having lunch two days ago.  As usual, we couldn't recall if the correct date was the 21st or the 22nd of March.  The reason for the confusion originates from some last minute changes to our wedding plans back in 1997.

Many couples try to pick a special date for their wedding day. Valentine's Day is always popular, and last year, 11/11/11 was considered particularly lucky, especially in India.  This year, 12/12/12 may be propitious, but I would avoid 1/3/13 next year, especially if you plan on getting married at 1313 (that's 1:13 PM for you civilians).  The wedding day Kellie and I initially selected turned out to be rather special too; we chose 22 March for our wedding day.  If that day doesn't ring any special bells for you, don't worry. It didn't ring any bells for me either, but it should have; it was the anniversary of my first marriage.  I didn't discover the coincidence until I received a rather angry phone call from a woman sounding remarkably like my first wife, though it was a bit hard to tell with all the yelling and such.  She had learned about the date from our children.

My first reaction was, "Oh crap! How am I going to explain this to Kellie."  Maybe I could play it off as a positive thing: "Look honey, my first marriage is so far behind me that I couldn't even remember when I got hitched."  Kellie's reaction surprised me. She could not stop laughing; she just thought it was the funniest thing ever.  Had we not changed the date to so that Kellie's brother could travel to Hawaii for the wedding, we would have been married on 22 March also.

Kellie often jokes (I hope) that her only goal was to last longer than my first wife, a milestone she attained five years ago.  For that achievement, she claims she's entitled to an engagement ring upgrade. "No problem," I told her. "Which vacation do you want to give up to fund the ring?"  She's decided that the first engagement ring is just fine – for now.

As we were finishing lunch, Kellie wanted to know how we were going to celebrate our anniversary this year.  "Don't you think our upcoming trip is a sufficient commemoration of our 15th wedding anniversary?" I asked.

Here's the itinerary.  I'll let my readers decide if it's an adequate jubilee. 

Adventure Of The Seas

Date	Location
4/13	Depart home, arrive San Juan, Puerto Rico
4/14	San Juan, Puerto Rico
4/15	San Juan, Puerto Rico – Begin 1st Cruise
4/16	Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
4/17	Philipsburg, St. Maarten
4/18	At Sea
4/19	At Sea
4/20	At Sea
4/21	At Sea
4/22	At Sea
4/23	At Sea
4/24	Tenerife, Canary Islands
4/25	Lanzarote, Canary Islands
4/26	Funchal (Madeira), Portugal
4/27	At Sea
4/28	Seville, Spain – End 1st Cruise
4/29	Seville, Spain
4/30	Seville, Spain
5/1	Arcos de la Frontera, Spain
5/2	Arcos de la Frontera, Spain
5/3	Ronda, Spain
5/4	Ronda, Spain
5/5	Malaga, Spain – Begin 2nd Cruise
5/6	Valencia, Spain
5/7	At Sea
5/8	Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
5/9	Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy
5/10	Ajaccio, Corsica
5/11	At Sea
5/12	Granada, Spain – End 2nd Cruise
5/13	Granada, Spain
5/14	Barcelona, Spain
5/15	Barcelona, Spain
5/16	Barcelona, Spain
5/17	Depart Spain, arrive Oceanside, CA