Traditions

My parents were married on Christmas Day in 1942. Each year, the present-opening extravagannnnnnza included a moment for opening anniversary cards and gifts--as I recall, given mostly by my father to my mother.

It was mostly a non-event for us kids, except for their 25th anniversary, when my sister organized a system whereby we "donated" portions of our allowance and pooled our nickels, dimes, and occasional quarter to buy a silver bread tray.

And of course, the more years my parents accumulated as married partners, the more important their anniversaries became. The more I understood relationships (or truthfully, the more I understood that I knew NOTHING about successful relationships), the more I admired theirs.

Two years ago, my husband and I stood on our beach and made a new marriage. I'm enjoying developing new traditions to celebrate that commitment--traditions that match our marriage.

The second anniversary is traditionally the cotton anniversary. In our marriage, the whole second year has been devoted to empty space. Not the kind overhead, where the stars and planets and birds live. The kind in attics and basements and closets, oh my. The kind that is now mostly dry, thanks to hours replacing roofs (though we're not quite done with the re-roofing).

On our special day in celebration of our year of empty space, we will go to the dump. It is not only an ordinary "take the garbage and recycling to the landfill" day but also a day when we will use one of our two annual "cleanout" days. We have the rolled roofing from the bathroom to get rid of. Also the aluminum eavestroughs. Plus an old cracked toilet.

It's exciting to contemplate. And I can't wait to see what the coming years bring.