The
Fifth Year of Love
by
Glen Shikunov
Love is a funny thing.
Whether you eventually grow into it, or it just hits you in the
head, love will always hurt at times. No matter how, where or
who you are, you will experience love, and your experience can
certainly go either way. When I took a look at the divorce rate
in this country as the fifth year anniversary of my wife and I
was coming up I remembered how thankful I really was. The passion
was as strong as ever, the desire to be with each other grew even
more after the marriage, and everything was always in the right
place in my heart. While families are being torn apart, fighting
over money and custody, I am at home with my wife every night
of the week happier then ever. The opportunity to tell the woman
of my life just how much I love her and how much she means to
me every day is more then I could ever ask for. She certainly
is all I will ever need to die a happy man.
With our fifth year
anniversary on the way I was in trouble. Literally, I was in panic
mode every day and every night. Suddenly it felt as though all
my creativity has failed me and for the first time ever I really
had no idea what to do. Vacations were too expensive for our family
to afford, yet a simple dinner seemed so dull. Whenever a husband
feels he has lost creativity he will take his wife out to dinner
because it cannot fail. While the night is not that special as
half the people around you are also on their anniversary, it will
at least give the two of you the chance to dress up and sit around
talking. Dullness at its finest if you ask me. I did not want
to be one of those husbands. I love my wife so much and I cannot
find an idea in my head that will make her know that and feel
special? It was not going to happen. So what did I do? Well, with
a week to go I decided to do what no man should ever try for safety’s
sake! I did the impossible. I tried learning how to cook.
I would like to mention
upfront that I have never cooked before in my life. I could barely
make myself scrambled eggs, as my wife usually laughed at me while
I was fighting off the jumping oil in the pan. Learning to cook
was going to be difficult. I went out to the store and started
off by picking out her favorite ingredients. With no recipes in
hand I dumped packages of parmesan cheese, grilled chicken, her
favorite Italian sauce, hash browns, and Betty Crocker (a life
saver by the way) cake mix. As I got home my wife called and told
me she’d be back in about ten minutes. I quickly stashed
away all the items in the basement and greeted her with a kiss
as if everything was fine and I haven’t been driving myself
crazy the whole day over our anniversary.
As our special day
came, something extraordinary had happened. My wife called in
and told me she had to work later then expected that day. She
was really sorry and said she’d only be an hour late. While
trying to act disappointed I actually had a smile on my face as
this gave me more time to prepare. Before the actual cooking took
place I needed to prepare some special touches. I rushed out to
the video store and rented the first love movie I have ever heard
her mention. To this day I still am not sure what we watched,
but I pretended to like it and although she knew that was not
so, she was still appreciative. Afterwards I found a fancy kitchen
place that had dinner party items. I bought two fancy cherry-scented
candles that were shaped like hearts as well as some confetti
hearts and bath bubbles later on. On my way back I stopped off
for a nice tablecloth and a new silverware set (ours was extremely
old). As I got home and set the table, dimmed the lights and put
on her favorite love song, it was time to cook.
I tried to be a simple
as possible. Betty Crocker should really be named “Cake
for Dummies” as it was ridiculously easy and I had no problem
finding where the stove switch was either. My first time around
with the hash browns and chicken did not go so well. I forgot
you actually needed oil on the pans and I ended up burning both
the dishes in a matter of ten minutes. Being the prepared type
however, I bought plenty of extras in case I ruined the first.
“You learn from your mistakes” is a fantastic saying.
I grilled the chicken, the topped it off with parmesan cheese
which melted perfectly. I left it on the stove longer to give
the cheese the browning look as well. The hash browns were a little
bit burned but I doubt my wife minded. The cake came out as well
as any and everything was set about ten minutes before she came
home from work.
We had a fantastic
dinner, many wonderful conversations, and a nice relaxing bubble
bath afterwards. This anniversary really was not too creative
or even planned out for that matter, but my wife still loved it.
I was never a man that decided to buy his wife expensive diamonds
for an anniversary. First off our family never had the money,
and secondly, I do not believe in buying something just to get
it over with. Anniversaries are special. They make you remember
how long you’ve been together, and just how much your partner
has done and sacrificed for you. This truly was a fantastic anniversary
for us, and there were many more to come.
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