- 1 car
- 2 career changes
- 3 residences
- 12 jobs
- 2,349 books
- 4,927 nappies
10 years. 1 marriage. I love you, Abi.
(Abi does a much better job of the whole reminiscence thing, though.)
The actual anniversary was last Wednesday, 23rd July. We didn’t do anything special during the day. Abi was at work, and because I don’t work on Wednesdays, I spent the day stripping wallpaper with Alex. In the evening, though, Scott and Ange came round to babysit, and Abi and I went out for dinner at the Pompadour restaurant at the Caledonian Hotel. Very posh, very nice.
We were also stuck for a present to get each other. I got Abi a diamond ring when Alex was born, and I don’t wear any jewelry other than my wedding ring. A romantic holiday would have been nice, but tricky to arrange. So what could we fall back on? Books? CDs? That didn’t seem terribly special for a ten-year anniversary….
The answer came in the form of tools. Abi’s hobby is bookbinding, and recently she has been craving leatherworking ornaments and various other bits of esoteric hardware. My main hobby right now is computers (sigh), and I’ve been craving a brain transplant and a spinal upgrade for Frankenstein, my PC. So we decided to reward each other with a cash budget to blow on our favourite tools.
It may not sound romantic, but we’re both fairly practical types, and we much prefer getting presents that we want and know we’re going to use, than trinkets that’ll end up lying around in drawers.
Wow. Ten years. I often get surprised looks when I tell people we’ve been married for that long. I was 21, fresh out of university; Abi was 22 and herself only six months past her graduation. By modern standards, we married really young. Still, it seems to have worked out okay so far. 🙂
A very pleasant thought struck me yesterday about the next ten years. In 2013, Alex will be just 12 years old. The last ten years seem like a long time. That means there is still an equally long time of Alex’s childhood to enjoy. That feels really nice to know.