Bob and I never made much of a fuss over our anniversaries. We enjoyed them - wished each other happy anniversary, sometimes with "well, made it through that year - want to sign on for another one?" We didn't do the go-to-a-fancy restaurant thing because neither of us particularly liked fancy restaurants. What Bob wanted was a steak, and the best way of getting a steak exactly as you like it is to cook it at home. Also at home you can pick up the bone and gnaw on it, and swipe up the last bits of juice with a piece of bread.
I'm trying to remember them. There were the big ones, of course. For our 10th we went to England. Alaska on our 20th. Did we do something for our silver anniversary? Maybe - but I don't remember. Neither do I remember our 30th - that was the year that I had gotten fired, and had gone back to school (and classes would have started by our anniversary). The 40th I wrote about - that's when we went to the zoo and beach at Jacksonville.
I remember a few random ones. The time we booked a room at the Wakulla lodge - it seemed so decadent to take a "vacation" 20 miles from home. But there was the riverboat tour and walking on the beach and he got into trouble playing checkers. The lobby at the lodge had a beautiful view of the springs, and there were inlaid marble checkerboards. I had envisioned a friendly game, gazing into each other's eyes, quiet conversation about our lives together. He was into strategies and competition and won every game not long after we started.
We went to the Seaquarium in Panama City one year - mainly to spend some time with a friend who had just moved there. We actually kept quiet about it being our anniversary, because she had just come out of an ugly divorce and we did have some sense of tact. (It was this same friend who later found out that we could go in the pool with the stingrays and we did that a few years later).
I did find an old blog post for our 38th. Bob had said he would handle everything and surprise me. It turned out to be a drive to Pensacola to look at Ft. Pickens (a fortress built in 1816), The Air History museum, and a good scale-model shop. Sort of a Bob-themed trip. But the surprise was that he booked a room in a beachside Hilton with a heart-shaped Jacuzzi tub, and a good seafood restaurant next door.
I can't remember which year we declared it to be the Power Tool Anniversary, because we bought a chop saw. That was for me. I couldn't use the chop saw that we had - the safety was in an odd position, so I couldn't hold it down and be able to pull the trigger (or whatever it's called) at the same time. So if I was in the middle of a project and needed a cut, I had to go find Bob, ask him to stop whatever he was doing and come make a cut for me. Very annoying. So I got my own.
Speaking of power tools - there was the "stroll through Lowe's" anniversary. I think it was even my idea. Bob liked poking around and looking at stuff. Every time we went to the hardware store, there was a bit of wandering, but of course we were there because we needed something for whatever we were working on, so we didn't stay long. But that day - we went without needing anything, and just wandered the aisles. Looked at all the tools - some we had never heard of. Just poked at stuff to see what was there. Confused the people who asked if they could help us find something by saying "just looking." I think that was one of his favorite anniversaries - years later he would say "remember the time . . . ?"
The one that bothers me, though, is our 46th. August 2019. No matter how much I wrack my brain, I remember nothing. Bob was having his preliminary chemo then, but having no side effects. We were making a lot of trips back and forth to Gainesville for consultations and tests. We must have done something. Maybe I cooked a steak. Maybe he asked if I was ready to sign on for another year.
We didn't know it would be our last one.
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