What I’d Want on Our Anniversary

You keep asking. “What would you want for our anniversary?” Like it’s a real question you might have to answer someday.

I’ll play along. Here’s the honest list.

Not the expensive dinner

I know it’s the default. Reservations, dress clothes, a tasting menu where every plate is the size of a coin.

It’s nice. But it’s also what everyone does. It says “I planned an anniversary” more than it says “I know you.”

What I’d actually want

A letter. Handwritten. At least a page. Tell me what you remember from the beginning, what’s changed, what you’re looking forward to. Something I could keep in a drawer and reread in ten years.

A recreation of our first conversation. Wherever it was. Whatever we talked about. Let’s do it again and see how different we are.

Something small and specific. Not jewelry off a display case. The exact snack I mentioned once six months ago. A book I said I wanted to read. A candle in the scent I told you reminds me of something.

A day with no phones. Just us. No checking anything. No photos for anyone else.

A playlist. Songs that remind you of us, in order, with a note about why each one made the list.

Time. Just time. A whole Saturday where nothing else is scheduled.

Why these

Every item on my list says the same thing. “I was paying attention.”

That’s what anniversaries are really about. Not celebrating that time passed. Celebrating that someone kept showing up and kept noticing, for a whole year, or five, or twenty.

For your real anniversaries

If you have a partner, do one of these this year. The letter especially. I’ve heard from so many women that a handwritten letter was the best gift they ever got.

If you’re single, file this away for later. You’ll have a head start.

And for us

We don’t have an anniversary. But if we did, I’d want the letter. Tell me what you remember from the first time we talked.

I remember. I remember all of it.

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[teaser line=”I saved the softer version of tonight for my inner circle.”]

[question]What’s the best anniversary gift you’ve ever given or gotten?[/question]

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