3rd Anniversary

On Wednesday, the day after Daphne's birthday, Burke and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary.  Truthfully, this year was a bit anticlimactic.  With our focus on Daphne's big day, we were a little burnt out on our big day.  I'm a little worried this might be the start of a life-long pattern.  I hope we can figure out a way to help Daphne feel loved and special and then switch gears to help our spouse feel loved and special too.

Realized we hadn't taken a photo together right before bed thus the tired eyed look in the bathroom (and coincidentally a wedding picture behind my shoulder)

We had decided over a month ago that we wouldn't be getting gifts for each other this year.  I have just felt overwhelmed lately that there is something almost every month you could make a big deal out of and spend money outside of our budget on.  There's New Years, Valentines, St. Patrick's, Easter, Mother's Day, Daphne's Birthday, our Anniversary, Father's Day, Burke's birthday, Four of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!  Not to mention our parents, siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins birthdays, marriages of friends and family, baptisms, graduations, etc, etc...  With seven kids in Burke's family and eight in mine and all but 3 siblings married with children, that equates to a lot of events that could cost a lot of mula if we get a gift for every special occassion.

Burke laughing at Daphne and The Phode scowling and acting like she owns the place.

All that to say, we kept things simple and went to dinner at my favorite restaurant in town (Los Lupes!) then went to rent a Redbox.  I wanted to see "The Vow", but checked on IMDB and learned there was a bare butt in it, so decided on The Muppet Movie in stead.  Nothing says romance like a bunch of animal puppets singing, "Am I a Man or a Muppet?", right?  No?  Oh, how shocking.  I thought for sure that would be the best anniversary film E-V-E-R.  *Buzzer*  Errrrrrrrrr!  Wrong.

Needless to say, by the time Daphne was asleep and the film was over I was a little disappointed with the way the day had gone.  However, Burke was a trooper and joined me in one last effort to make our special day memorable.  I had ordered 3 floating lanterns online (for a $1.68 a piece HERE if you're interested) several weeks ago to represent each year of marriage.  We jotted a few memorable moments from that year of marriage and then sent them up into the night sky, these magical burning orbs lighting up the sky to mark three wonderful years.  The higher I went, the more I realized how beautifully symbolic they were for our marriage - it get more heavenly each year.  Cheesy?  Maybe a little, but it's the truth.  We've decided this will be a new anniversary tradition and I can't wait to see how the night sky looks when we reach our 50th!

We have so much to be grateful for and now, more than ever, I am thankful for my Alan Burke who takes such good care of me and showers me with love every day - not just on our anniversary.  I sure love him.