March 17th, 2008
The 13th Spring
My husband I got married on a Friday in Lent thirteen years ago, but this year our anniversary is Easter Monday. Spring in my single days was marked by the lessening of rain (because I grew up in Northern California, where it rains in Winter), and the baring of legs. In our office, pantyhose were considered torture, though colorful cotton tights were not. To this day, I love tights, and hate hose.
Monday the 24th is our anniversary - thirteen years - and I always spend the week or so before that date having moments of reflection, as does my husband, whom I refer to as Fuzzy. We think about where we are, and what we want, and joke about whether or not we’ll renew the contract. Actually, I joke about this, because I’m the commitment-phobe who only agreed to marriage because it made health benefits more accessible (well, no, that’s not true. But it is true that the only reason I took his last name is that it was easier to spell and pronounce).
I consider this week my mental spring cleaning. I throw out all the issues from last year (to make room for new ones, I guess), and come up with a plan for the next year. I make a plan for the house as well. This year, after three-and-a-half years here, we’re finally painting, finally putting tile in the dining room, hiring a new cleaning person, putting sprinklers in the front lawn. Not all at once - in stages - some of it won’t be done til later this summer. But the plan, the setting-in-motion part of it, that’s my spring thing.
This is our thirteenth spring. We’re both nearing forty; we still don’t have children. I’m not, yet, TOO old, but close. I’m not sure if my biological clock is ticking or not…shouldn’t I know? But the truth is, we like our life, and we’re selfish enough not to really want to change it.
So, while plants and birds and every other creature around us is procreating, we’re merely creating. Creating a more personalized home, creating a better relationship, creating a plan for the next “fiscal” year of our marriage.
Isn’t that what Spring is for?
