Celebrating 12 years of marriage

Wren and I have been married 12 years as of yesterday August 17th. It's funny to think back on the first 11 years without Alea and to remember what it was like as just the two of us. We have had many amazing experiences away from home. We've had lots of time to learn about life and it's gifts and challenges. We've made incredible friends along the way and are grateful for that time of learning and growing. Many of our past anniversary celebrations included dinner out or some form of entertainment such as a movie, live theater or comedy show. One year we waited until October to celebrate and took a white water rafting trip down the Dead River in Maine where, upon losing my corner of the raft in a wash, Wren reached across the boat and pulled me back to safety (what a guy, and quick reflexes at that). Another year, I decided to bravely try cooking an Indian meal (as in East Indian). It actually turned out pretty well but it wasn't the Bombay Club, one of our favorite places to eat in Cambridge. This year we both didn't even mention our anniversary until last week when we both looked at each other and said, "I think our anniversary is next week". Having just planned and executed our daughters first birthday party, it was the last thing either one of us was thinking about. We both asked each other last Thursday night what we wanted to do this year to celebrate and after a half hearted discussion of some options we went to bed. Friday came and I talked to my sister who mentioned that she wanted some help painting her kitchen cabinets and since I don't get to see her as much now that she's working, I asked Wren if he wanted to drive to Choctaw on Friday night to stay over at his mom and dad's then watch Alea on Saturday so I could go help my sister. He agreed so we packed up and left town Friday night, again, not thinking about what we would do for our anniversary. I went to Sarah's on Saturday and stayed all day painting cabinets with her, helping her around the house and playing with Cora. At about 5:30 I called Wren and asked him if he wanted to stay over again and drive home on Sunday instead to which he ,again, agreed. That night we were trying to go to sleep and asked each other one more time what we wanted to do to celebrate our 12th. After some time of discussion we decided that to celebrate our 12 years of marriage we wanted to do something as a family. The next morning we packed up our stuff and took a family anniversary trip to the zoo. That's one that we've never done before and we had a great time. Alea was a doll and the weather was perfect. This year we not only celebrated 12 years of marriage but 1 year of surviving parenthood. My favorite animals were the giraffes and the bats, Wren liked the Oklahoma trails (native Oklahoma wild life) and Alea especially enjoyed the gorilla who came right up to the glass, sat down and starred at us for the longest time. We ended the day in the gift shop, of course, where we bought Alea a little stuffed monkey which she carried all the way out to the car on her shoulder patting it and saying "awwwww". I'm sure Wren and I will eventually get back to celebrating our anniversaries with just the two of us but I'm glad that we had family time for this one. It just felt right.