Turning Over the Milestones

My 10th wedding anniversary is this coming Friday (September 6).  When this comes up in conversation, I’m immediately asked what our plans are.  Are we doing something special?  We do have plans now, but we just decided on those last week. And they aren’t really particularly different than other anniversaries; a nice dinner at the restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner. No big huge party with fireworks and sparklers on top of a cake.  No Mediterranean cruise.  No trip to Vegas to renew our vows.

We put a lot of pressure on these milestone years, don’t we?  Ten year anniversaries.  Decade birthdays.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s never bad to celebrate life and love.  My family put together an amazing 100th birthday celebration for my grandfather, a day full of beautiful memories; and I was thrilled to coordinate a trip to New York for my husband’s 40th birthday.  Obviously wouldn’t trade any of theses experiences.

But celebrations are different for different people and they’re different at different times in our lives.  I met a new friend for coffee several months ago, and the 10 year anniversary came up in conversation.  She asked if we were doing something special to celebrate and then immediately before I answered, stated that we didn’t have to be doing anything and she didn’t know why she’d asked.  She acknowledged that every year is different and sometimes a big celebration just isn’t the right thing.

Her simple acknowledgement that there is no one right way to mark our milestones meant a lot to me.  So on the eve of my quiet and perfect for us anniversary celebration, I wanted to tell you the same.  Whatever you decide to do for those milestone events in your life is perfect.  What matters is that you pause and acknowledge the thing for what it is; another year of life, another year of love.