Do you have an anniversary coming up? A big day to celebrate? Are you expecting jewelry, lavish gifts, a surprise getaway? A luscious slice of cake?
In my fantasy life, I am the delirious recipient of a glittering piece of jewelry to commemorate the day – nothing garish, mind you. A few carats will do nicely – and make that no-conflict diamonds, please, to grace my little lobes. Or, the perfect strand of pearls. Sparkling ruby slippers also work, or at the very least, ruby red soles on 100 millimeter French heels.
Of course, in my real world, I celebrate anniversaries differently. Quietly, yet fully aware that special moments deserve recognition.
Celebrate with jewelry
I confess. I have fine jewelry that recalls important events and anniversaries. Like most women, I consider jewelry a welcome way to mark a milestone. I don’t require extravagance (though I won’t say no); and diamonds are a classic. But I have been known to prefer unusual pieces of jewelry that are handcrafted and tell a story.
I often wear a gold metallic cuff purchased in Paris more than 20 years ago. I feel good in it – strong and confident. I am wearing it today. From time to time I wear small silver earrings with tiny gemstones, also from a period in Paris. Or larger earrings, boldly geometric. They remind me of being in love, in a city I adore. I wear them, and smile.
Wedding anniversaries and birthdays
There are many traditions for gifts and celebrations when it comes to wedding anniversaries and birthdays. I’ve rarely followed any of them. Anniversaries were generally subdued affairs – a simple dinner at a nice restaurant.
But birthdays in our home involve gifts of the heart: balloons, homemade cards, cake baked and shared in our cozy kitchen. Always, time spent together. These traditions are the hallmark of our family, and I treasure them.
How not to celebrate an anniversary
Of course there are unforgettable gifts that no wise man would ever offer to a woman on the occasion of a wedding anniversary, birthday, or other significant event. For example –
- Wilted flowers from the supermarket
- Spa certificate for laser hair removal
- Dust Busters, Shop-Vacs, Minwax
- Cleaning products of any sort
Surely, I needn’t elaborate.
Special celebrations
Just before I hit one of those “big” birthdays that cause most women to take a Prozac – or a lover – I squeezed enough out of the budget for a trip abroad. I gave myself several days in a charming, brightly decorated hotel on the French Riviera. Traveling alone as a woman has never been an issue for me; I was utterly content. I ate extraordinary meals, wandered streets and beaches I hadn’t seen in 30 years, and chatted in French with the concierge.
It was a voyage of celebration, a touchstone, a private experience of accepting time’s passage, and feeling wonderful, exactly as I was.
Occasions of personal accomplishment
Many occasions warrant recognition. Personal accomplishment may come in the form of a new job, earning a coveted prize, or crossing the finish line in a grueling marathon.
We also celebrate anniversaries of survival: a year since a health scare, a painful breakup, or other profound loss.
Some of us celebrate our commitments to ourselves. Those achievements can be very sweet, even when they consist of seemingly simple goals.
One year anniversary
Today, I celebrate daily discipline – my one year anniversary of a promise made and a promise kept to myself, a celebration of knowing exactly who I am, and discovering who I am.
Through illness and sleeplessness, through background battles and technology troubles. With a little help from my friends.
Today, my Daily Plate of Crazy is officially one year old. I will indulge with a bagel instead of cake, coffee instead of champagne, my laptop as usual rather than jewelry or travel. I will cherish the gift of connection, and equally, the gift of new challenges.
One year ago I wondered if this sort of writing would be “so much pasta” – temporarily filling, but ultimately unsatisfying.
I have my answer.
Woo Hoo!! More please…
Sorry. Just finished the last bagel, Jim. Must I bake a cake? Spice cake?
Congrats on a year of blogging! Celebrations are a good thing, even muted ones. They remind us to focus on the joy of what we’re doing with our lives. Here’s to another year!
Yay! Wow, congrats Wolfie. What an accomplishment, and I love that you talk about keeping a promise to yourself. Through thick and thin. Through physical pains and emotional aches. Helping son #2 at a very important point in his life. And still managing to write witty, intelligent, thought-provoking posts. Bring on another year of crazy!!
Happy Anniversary…or birthday of your blog! Your writings are amazingly poignant, funny, inspiring and, at times, very painful to read. Well done and here’s to another successful year. (She says as she raises her hot tea mug in salute)
Great! Congratulations! A year of blogging. Here is a virtureal coffee toast to you as I eat my bagel.
Félicitations, BLW. A year very much worth commemorating. So glad to be here to mark it with you as a delighted reader.
Thanks, Jim, DM, Lisa, Eva, Rudri, CT – it’s been an interesting and enriching experience. And a hassle and a half during those 3 weeks of technology traumas! (Thanks again to Sarah for burning the midnight oil repeatedly, to a neighbor for lending me a computer and a kitchen for days and nights – and a huge BRAVO to the folks at HostGator, who have continued to provide exceptional service as I have now moved under their very cozy and protective wing.)
Now as for another year… maybe I’ll occasionally take a day off now since I met my commitment of 365 consecutive days. You know. Like… to go shoe shopping. And of course, to report back.
Happy Blog Birthday BLW! Each day I look forward to your posts. They have made me laugh, cry, and think. I don’t comment often, or even have a blog for you to read, but thank you for sharing your stories, you have helped me more than you know. 🙂
Oh, Linda! You just made me misty. (Really.) Thank you. What a lovely compliment.
Happy Blogoversary!!
Hope you’re treating yourself well!
Congratulations to you wonderful, wonderful lady! This world is so much richer for you in it, and though I cannot send a real gift to commemorate this important day, I send you my love and support and desire to go on reading. Because that is really what it is all about!
And I have an anniversary of my own coming soon. My husband and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage in September. We are choosing a jet set gift to commemorate and will head to Vegas at the end of September for a much needed adult respite. (Did I really just say respite in the same paragraph as Vegas?)
Happy birthday, Daily Plate of Crazy! I won’t ruin your day with a stupid birthday poem…
I dream of something no-conflict glittery, too. But then (still in fantasy land) I wonder: Would I rather have a new chair? Or a year of shopping without bounds at Anthropologie? Or a second vacation?
One of my best friends bought her husband-to-be a nose-hair trimmer for Valentine’s Day one year. It wasn’t a joke, and they didn’t work out.
I know I am a recent devotee, but I am so glad you’re here. And I’ll catch up eventually.
OHMYGOD I chortled. (Not a pretty sight.) A nose-hair trimmer? Foolish, foolish woman. Unless that was a sign of things to come.
(Anthropologie. Heaven, heaven, heaven with lofty prices to match. I’ve got a chair you can have. It’s only used as part of a laundry installation anyway. But would you take the laundry as a bonus feature of the chair?)
BLW, a toast to you for a year of serving up the much beloved daily plate of crazy!
A celebration of knowing exactly who I am, and discovering who I am. — Is there a truer line about blogging?
Congrats on your anniversary! That is amazing. I was so happy when I recently hit 10 posts I didn’t know what to do. It flew by! I went back and read your first one. Enjoyed it much. I’ve only recently started following you but I have very much enjoyed what I have read so far!
Thanks, Peg! Glad you’re enjoying, and likewise. (Writing here has become my morning vitamin.)
Happy anniversary, Big Little Wolf! I am still in puke land over here (sorry for that image!) but couldn’t let this monumental day pass without raising a virtureal glass of bubbly in your honor.
Your commitment to the daily writing of such thoughtful, eloquent pieces inspires me more than you know. So much pasta? I’d say so much manna. You know, as in from heaven.
Here’s to many days ahead of writing, reading, and connecting!
Thank you, Kristen. Your kind words mean a great deal to me. Now don’t let all those boy germs make you sick!
Happy Blogiversary! You can’t see it, but I’m sure we’re all raising our glass/mug/can to you – Cheers to a great year! Thanks to your discipline, we get our daily fix 🙂
Daily Fix of Crazy? 😉 Thanks, Justine!
Yes, yes, yes. This community you’ve helped create and that you foster and maintain each day is a tremendous gift. And you earned it lady.
Congratulations!!!! I hope you had a fantastic celebration yesterday.
Thanks Kelly. Thanks Nicki. Coffee, more writing, more rain. It was actually a very pleasant day.
Aw, Happy Anniversary. You deserve diamonds! Me too.
Thank you for becoming part of my bloggy world! xo
Congratulations and happy anniversary! That’s a big one! I’m glad I found you and I hope to keep reading and “knowing” you for many years to come!
Congratulations, sweet and genius Wolf. You made it. You are here. You crossed the finish line. And I am proud and happy to call you my friend.