5 Years Later

October 8, 2011.  Erich and I have been married for 5 years.  Wow.  Has long and short it seems when I think about it.  We actually met and started dating when we were 19, a little over 9 years ago.  Ha, how young and naive we were. (I'm sure I can say this again in 5 more years!)  Now, of course, he is my best friend and I'm not sure how I got along without him.  We fight of course, we have had rocky times, we even broke up a few times in college, but we tolerate each other well and I love him so much.  I'm so happy to have been married to him for 5 years.

For our anniversary we went to our friends Austin and Roxana's wedding!  We got to see some of my wonderful friends from high school and had a wonderful time.

But since we wanted to spend some time together we celebrated the night before.  We went out to a nice dinner and then Shakespeare in the Park.  While at the park Erich told me the 5 year anniversary present is Wood.  Really?  Who makes this crap up?   I couldn't think of anything wood that I would have really appreciated at this time.  Maybe if he built a something or another out of wood, who knows.  But he told me he got me a traditional present so I'm thinking, oh great.  I told him whoever made that up was stupid every and that anniversary present should be a different gem stone.  He handed me a little wrapped up gift.  I open the little package he gives me and there is a wooden box, actually its a wooden box that someone gave my father as a thank you present from Africa.  I saw it in the garage a few days before.  A little confused I opened it and Erich had written me a beautiful poem.  I know right! Cheesy but wonderful.  I loved it, there was even one line about how he has gotten comfortable holding my purse!  Ah, so now you know it wasn't too serious of a poem. It was a small gift, but it was perfect.  I had told him just days earlier that I didn't want to do big presents, having little Lyla was enough.  We have actually had pretty good anniversary presents each year.

Our first year present: our puppy Cinnie!!!
Our second year present: a hot air ballooning trip!!! (I have always wanted this)
Our third year anniversary present: we bought a our first house!!!
Our fourth year anniversary present: our honeymoom to Barbados!!!
This year: Lyla!!!!!!!

Anyway, then the play was about to begin and Erich asked if I could get him a napkin out of our bag, we had brought some drinks and snacks to enjoy during the play.  I reach into the bag and there is a little box all wrapped up with a bow.  This time the box is in the shape of jewelry.  The poem was truly enough but excitedly I opened the box to find the most wonderful ring.

If this ring looks familiar - its because Erich actually gave it to me for Christmas!  The one he got was too large for my little finger so we went and had it sized.  Well, when they moved the diamonds on the side of the ring, some of them fell out.  Because we were scared this problem would never stop we just returned the ring planning to eventually order one in the correct size so it would not need to be adjusted.  Well the price was quite hefty and we had a lot of other things going on, so we never repurchased the ring.  It became a fond memory and we moved on.  I didn't know that Erich had continued to look for the ring, but it had been discontinued.  He just happened to be on a business trip to Reston the week before and had some extra time to stop in the jewelers.  They miraculously had one ring left, in a random box behind the counter, not even in the display case, and it just happened to be my size.  It was also significantly cheaper than when he purchased it the first time.  Some kind of miracle.  I guess they do say good things come to those who wait.  Well, I love the ring even more now than I did the first time, and most of all I love my wonderful husband, who cares enough about me to want to get something like this for me.

Happy Anniversary Baby!