Happy anniversary to M and me! I can't believe it's been almost ten years of marriage. Sometimes I feel like I'm not the best source of marriage advice for other people, because honestly M makes it so easy. I met him when I was 14 years old when we rode the bus together in high school and have been in love with him for over half my life. We really are like one in so many ways.
We have a cute tradition where every year (or at least every year we remember) on our anniversary we'll write a letter to each other in a notebook we received as a wedding gift and read the one from the previous year. It's amazing what details feel so important to write down one day that feel so distant a year later. There are also a few missing years, like last year, so the last time we wrote in there we were in Seoul and had just found out I was pregnant! Now I can't imagine life without baby S. A lot can change in a couple of years.
This year, we lined up a babysitter (thanks, L!) so we could go to a romantic dinner at Kingbird at the Watergate Hotel and then see Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Kennedy Center. The food was delicious, and I was pleasantly surprised to see multiple mocktails on the menu. For LDS folks like me and other non-drinkers, it's nice to have more options these days. I also loved the personal touches on the dessert, which wished us a happy anniversary.
Being from northern Virginia and having a classical pianist mom, I have so many fond memories of going to the Kennedy Center, seeing a performance, and enjoying the sunset over the water. But Moulin Rouge is extra special for M and me because seeing the Moulin Rouge movie was one of our earliest dates. We liked the movie so much that M got me as one of my first gifts as his girlfriend a beautiful Swarovski elephant that hearkened to the elephant in the movie. (I still have that elephant and can see it sitting on the mantelpiece as I type.) We even picked "Your Song" as our first dance song at our wedding!
So it seemed like a no-brainer to go and see the Moulin Rouge musical, a callback to one of our earliest dates. Truth be told, I generally like musicals way more than M. (He once fell asleep full-on snoring partway into Les Mis when I dragged him to a performance.) But this rendition of Moulin Rouge was an exception. They did a fantastic job updating the musical to make it very modern, sampling very recent and recognizable songs. (Securing the rights to the music was a wild ride, apparently.) M and I were jamming out the whole time, and it was nice to see him enjoy the show as much as I did.
I'm looking forward to celebrating many more years with the best husband, father, lover, partner, and friend I could hope for in this life and beyond. "The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."
