When it comes to celebrating wedding anniversaries, Gaurav and I are about as basic as they come. Usually we forget until the last minute, then scramble to find a romantic restaurant for dinner, come home wine-drunk, yadda, yadda, yadda.
It doesn’t help that in a flight of fancy we decided not to get married in just one country, but three. Ah, the indiscretions of youth. In Singapore I wore red, in the U.S. I wore white, and in India I wore yellow and pink, just in case you were wondering (you probably weren’t).
Anyway, today, May 6th, is our 1st, 6th anniversary–see if you can make sense of that!
We remembered this late last night in the midst of a Cinco de Mayo Zoom cocktail hour, and promptly forgot again. I blame it on Gaurav’s potent margaritas. He blames nothing, because he’s always had a terrible memory anyway.
Now here it is the day of, and the most exciting thing we’ve got planned is to order in dinner. Love in times of Corona and all that.
Sure, under normal circumstances we could be headed out to a nice restaurant tonight, but is it really all that different from tasty take-away in the comfort of your flat? Maybe this is what 6 years of wedded bliss is really supposed to be: pajamas and pizza and maybe a movie.
Having an anniversary in quarantine has certainly made me stop and consider the pressure we put on ourselves to celebrate certain milestones. Yes, being married for 6 years is a big deal, but why does it take a birthday or anniversary to force us to get our boogie on? It’s like we need permission or something to enjoy our daily lives.
Quarantine life has shifted the way we view the world in so many ways, but in particular I think it’s shown a lot of us the danger of taking things for granted. It’s taught us the importance of celebrating the little things. Every. Single. Day.
Like when your SO brings home a brownie for you from their daily coffee run.
Like when a friend who lives nearby mails you a card because social distancing is important but they also love you.
Like when you have karaoke nights with no-one but your husband and cats to cheer you on.
It might not feel like it right now, but all these micro celebrations are making up a big life. You don’t need exotic trips, or expensive gifts, or much of anything else really. You just need all those little moments.
Appreciate them and make it count.
In the immortal words of a dear friend of ours who lived every day like it was the best ever: Go big, or go home.
Except these days it’s: Go big, while staying home.
