In Which We Almost Forgot Our Anniversary

We received an email the other day that made my jaw drop.

This year has been a wild one. Our kids started going back to school, we got a ton of animals out at Ocoee Farm, PJ’s been renovating the downtown cottage, we adopted our children (!), and our business has increased dramatically since January. All good things! All things that we’re very grateful and thankful for. But all things that have kept us busy with little else on our minds other than accomplishing the task at hand and taking care of our family.

Which brings us to the other day, when I opened an email from a sweet subscriber who we talk with frequently. The subject simply said “HA” while the email read:

“Dear Gentlemen,

Happy Anniversary!

I hope that it is filled with joy.

Congratulations.”

My stomach sank. “Is today our anniversary?!?!” I was so upset. I know I’m scatter brained and we’re both super busy, but how did I forget this day, of all days?! Quickly, the feeling of shame rushed over me. I let this day, our day, come and go without even so much as a second thought.

But then another thought came over me: PJ hasn’t mentioned anything of our anniversary either, which means he must have forgotten it, too! How dare he!! I’m the only one allowed to forget 😂. But alas, it seemed we had both forgotten our anniversary for the first time…ever. What does that mean? What does that say about us?

Only, we hadn’t forgotten. We hadn’t forgotten at all. Because when I looked at the calendar, I saw that it wasn’t in fact the 17th of October, but the 11th! We still had six days!! A big sigh of relief inaudibly came out of me as I realized we didn’t slip up and forget the day we got married, but that it just hadn’t come yet. When I told PJ of the email, his eyes got big and his mouth opened wide as he thought he forgot it, too, but I quickly told him it wasn’t the 17th and we’re good. We’re good.

The thing is, neither of us would be angry with the other if we did forget our anniversary. It’s no secret to one another that we’re both doing the best we can, and this has been the busiest year that either of us can remember. If for some reason, one year, we do end up forgetting our anniversary, I think we’ll both have understanding and grace for one another, knowing that we’re both juggling a lot.

And in the end, there’s always October the 18th, which also seems like a pretty good day for celebrating, too.