Recently my wife Pat and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary. We were married July 1, 1978 in the chapel at St. Gregory’s.
It was a Saturday morning at 10:30. This year July 1 fell on a Saturday also.
Normally, we go out to eat at the same restaurant we’ve been going to for years and just enjoy the evening.
But we’d gotten word reliably that the quality of food had really fallen off since that last time we ate there so she and I had decided to just sort of play it by ear.
We thought about just staying around the house and grilling steaks maybe or possibly going out to another restaurant. We just didn’t have it set in stone how we might celebrate it.
In late May, my church had a Mass where couples having anniversaries in five-year intervals were invited to attend that day, then were honored with a reception, had a photo taken and received a small gift. During the Mass there was a special blessing of those married couples.
The last time we had attended that type of special Mass was for our 25th anniversary.
Pat also thought it was nice as did I and we really enjoyed it.
We knew several of the couples who were also celebrating 45 years of marriage, some 50 years and others less and more than that.
A day or two before July 1, a good friend called Pat and invited us to their house in the late afternoon and evening on our anniversary for a crab boil. The friend knew it was our anniversary and likewise she was aware I do not like crab. Pat loves it.
But she was quick to tell Pat there would be pork chops and other food for those who were not crazy about eating crab. In fact, the good friend’s husband who was going to cook the crab barely can stand the smell of it.
Pat called me on the phone and told me about it and asked me what I thought. I told her it was fine with me. I thought it was a nice invite and I looked forward to being with our friends and others.
I did get Pat an anniversary card and she bought one for me and I ordered roses that arrived midmorning on that Saturday.
Our daughter Meghan and grandson Liam came that day also to visit for a while which was nice.
Pat and I wandered on out to the friend’s house late that afternoon and it was an enjoyable time. It was a little different way to celebrate our anniversary but we agreed it was better than just going out to a restaurant for a change.