Isolating from a pandemic isn’t how I wanted my spouse Helen and me to spend our 27th anniversary. We usually go out to dinner and enjoy having someone else do the dishes. This year, we’re stuck at home, properly distancing ourselves from the rest of the world. Still, our weathering the pandemic together says more about our relationship than a fancy meal.
We’ll likely have a nice dinner tonight, though. Cooking is the one domestic task I enjoy, and a meal will provide both food and gift this year. Our teenage son will join us, which he usually doesn’t do for our anniversary, but being together as a family right now supersedes a spouses-only romantic dinner. (Maybe he’ll be nice and do the dishes.)
This isn’t our “usual” anniversary celebration—but the world left “usual” behind a few weeks ago. After 27 years, however, Helen and I have learned to roll with the ups and downs. We wouldn’t have survived together this long if we hadn’t.
Our anniversary date has also always been a vague thing, a rough guestimate about the start of our relationship long before we could make it legal. We’re okay if the celebration doesn’t quite match. Not only that, but one perk of having been together pre-marriage equality and then making our marriage legal on a date half the calendar away is that we have two opportunities to celebrate. Maybe by November we’ll be able to go out to dinner again.
Regardless, we’ll still have each other. Happy 27th, sweetheart.