Yesterday was my nineteen wedding anniversary!  You know, when I say a number that big, it makes me feel like I should be older than I am.   But being that my oldest will be 18 in a couple of weeks, I’m definitely old enough to have been married that long.  🙂

My husband and I went out together for a while in the evening.  I didn’t really want to do anything ‘special’.  As we got home, I told him that spending time just being together is what I love most, even if it doesn’t sound celebratory.  Then we opened the door, and were greeted by a very unexpected sight.  I had gotten a call just a few minutes before from dd14 telling me that no one was going to bed or listening to her, and I told her we were just a few minutes away.  It was obvious as soon as we stepped in the door that it was a ploy.

The entire house was spotlessly clean and dark, with the exception of the dining room table.  On it was a sign of silver oaktag with large black lettering, “Happy 19th Anniversary!”  Then on the side it said, ‘You are the best parents EVER!’ and was signed by all of the kids.  On each side was a candlelabra with long white tapered candles in it, in the center was a beautiful centerpiece with three wide white candles of staggered heights, then a couple of other candles around.  In the front were two tea cups on saucers, with a matching ceramic tea pot filled with steaming water in the center.  On the front right and left was an assortment of herbal teas, and in the background was beautiful instrumental music.

My husband and I stood there for a minute, taking it all in – it was just beautiful!  We were kind of waiting for the kids to jump out and yell ‘suprise!’, but that didn’t happen.  After a few very peaceful moments, I went upstairs to find the kids and thank them – dd12 and dd17 (who got home just a few hours before that) told me I wasn’t supposed to be talking to them, I was supposed to be downstairs relaxing with my husband!  Then I peeked in on dd14, who was very unsuccessfully trying to look as if she was asleep in bed – though she had run upstairs just thirty seconds before we walked in.

We thanked them all for the beautiful surprise – it was so special, really tasteful and so thoughtful – and dd14 told us that they had left the camera running on the video setting; it was on top of a cabinet where we didn’t notice it.  We then sat down and enjoyed some tea together while we looked at the video.  Since dh had to go out to maariv and then prepare for the shiur (Torah lecture) he’s giving on Shabbos, I invited the kids to sit down with me.  (It was after 11 pm by this time, and dd11, ds9, ds12 had all joined us to see how we liked the surprise – ds17 went with dh.)  They told me that they weren’t supposed to be there, that we were supposed to be alone, but when I told them dh was going out, they very happily sat down and enjoyed tea with candlelight with me.

A lovely way to commemorate 19 wonderful years!

Avivah