Celebrate Love

This week Don and I celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary.  We have always done a pretty good job of celebrating this day.  We have traveled sometimes-going to Door County, Chicago, Nashville, and last year Las Vegas.  During our first anniversaries we attempted to buy each other the “themed” gift for that year.  The first year was paper and I remember buying Don tickets to Brewers Opening Day and two away game tickets-one for St. Louis and one for the Cubs.  The most creative one was for our 15th anniversary.  Don and I were both working at the high school and during 1st hour a student came to my office and delivered a vase with two roses in it.  The next hour another student delivered some more roses.  This went on throughout the day.  Each student would say, “Hi Mrs. Petre.  My name is Crystal.”  One of the themes for that year was crystal.  Don had found all the students at the high school whose name was Crystal and had them deliver roses to be throughout the day!!!

There have been times that we have visited places of our past to celebrate our anniversary.  We have gone to the restaurant of our first official date, attended mass at the church we were married in, or drove by our first homes.

Last year, we went on a trip of a lifetime for our 30th and went on an Alaskan Cruise.  Something I would recommend everyone to do!  This year, like many years, we are just going out to a nice dinner and show afterwards.  We have never just let the day pass by.  I have to admit many times it is Don planning something and everyone who knows Don is not surprised by this but there was a time when the girls were young that Don and I had monthly date nights.  I came up with this idea when we were knee deep into parenting and were not finding a lot of time to connect with each other.  It was always the 18th of the month (our anniversary date) and we rotated months so it wasn’t always one person planning.  It could be elaborate or very simple.  Sometimes it would just be grabbing a bottle of wine and watching our favorite TV show after the girls went to bed.   I sincerely believe that these date nights helped us stay close throughout the years and helped us grow our interests together.

Don and I are not perfect by any means-show me a couple who is.  And we certainly take each other for granted as most couples do from time to time but we do not take these 31 years lightly.  We know there are people who never find love and unfortunately we know several people who have lost love.  We know how lucky we are but we also take credit for working on our relationship and getting it to the point it is today.  The work is not done and some days it takes more work than others😊  Thus the song I am including in this post and to continue on my theme of music from my last blog, Andy Grammer’s “I Do”.  This song perfectly describes marriage and the ups and downs and the chorus “Even when I don’t love you, I do, I do, I do” explains that even during the difficult times and tough days I love Don Petre and I always will.  His presence in my life has given me so much that I will forever be grateful for and I so wish we had another 31 in us but if this all ended tomorrow I know I got to spend my life with a pretty incredible human being who I built a pretty incredible life with.

Andy Grammer I Do