The Gift Makes The Wedding Anniversary Memorable!

My husband and I will have been married for twelve years this coming March. Twelve years – I can’t believe we made it! We started out as mere children, with no idea what the future held in store. Now, having matured and grown together, we have two happy, healthy children, a rambling old house, a pile of debt and each other.

Wedding anniversarie have always been special for our family. Even when we were young kids, we would spend hours and weeks deliberating on that perfect card to present for our parents’ big occasion! The ingredients for the cake and the actual cooking of it, were all handled by us. All our pocket money in coins and pennies went towards a magnificent present for them.

I remember one year, during a time period when our mother was in love with everything wicker and rattan, we found what we considered to be the best gift ever! In a little, whimsical gift shop in town, in the very front window sat a little wicker basket. Inside the basket were five coaster, each with an intricate wicker frame. The centre of each coaster had an asian-inspired water color painting, protected behind glass. My sisters and I were in love! This would indeed be our very best wedding anniversary present we had ever found for our parents! We entered the store, wide-eyed and shyly went to the customer service desk to ask about the price. We found out that the coaster set was only $7.50! That left us with just over $3.00 after tax – plenty to pay for gift wrapping and maybe even a bow!

Years later when things weren’t so happy in our family, I remember a huge argument between our parents. I’m still sad to remember seeing my mother clear one of the coffee table with a swipe of her arm. That was the coffee table that had been home to our little coaster set, that my sisters and I had bought with such love and esteem for our parents marriage.

Yes, there were plenty of battles on their life’s journey, but our parents stayed with each other. And we were able to celebrate each wedding anniversary with some kind of celebration or the other. Yes, our gifts as adults were costlier than the ones we used to buy when we were children. Now they were cards with best wishes and some expensive item which was bought with all our money pooled together. Despite everything, it is the wicker basket with the coaster set that has remained in everyone’s memory as the best and most caring gift of all. Due to the battle of yesteryears, the coaster set was broken in some places and scratched in others. But it occupies a pride of place on top of a shelf, put there by our parents to remind them of our love for them. It is also a reminder that their marriage survived the storms over the years and the fact that they have spent so much time together.

For our own children and in our own marriage, we too hold wedding anniversary celebrations in high esteem. Our children love to make special cards, we always have a cake and every year we can look forward to a special wedding anniversary gift from our two wonderful kids!