Just to put this in context, there aren't many things we do celebrate, and so we have always made a big thing of anniversarys (presents for the kids too, etc); for our first he bought me a present for every letter of my name, and I bought him a motorbike. But as the years have gone by, he has, as men do, gotten a bit forgetful, and one memorable year I surprised him with a telescope and he surprised me with nothing. And if we do have a party or do anything else, it's always me that books it organises it etc. He just turns up. So I've been banging on for the last year that he better come up with something good for our 20th...!!
Anyway, he had bought me a set of steamer pans a few weeks before our anniversary and said 'that can be your first anniversary present' (i'm ashamed to say that although I loved the pans, I wasn't all that impressed with the idea of necessary cookware as a spectacularly thought out 20th anniversary present!). Then, a few days later, I was nipping accross the shop for a bottle of gin and he gave me a tenner and said, 'consider it an anniversary present'. He suggested I had a day at a spa with my sister, and paid for me to have a couple of really nice treatments and to go and return on the train so I could relax and not drive, which was wonderful, and I started to feel a bit spoiled and special.....
But then on the day he 'forgot', no card or flowers or anything and I have to admit, I was a bit upset. Later on, when we were shopping for our ds first bike, he kept drawing me to look at watches, but I didn't see any I liked and ended up buying one for myself when I was shopping for his present later (had it planned way in advance but it had been out of stock until the actual day) When I got home with it he gave me some money towards it and again said consider it part of your anniversary presents.
Long story slightly shorter, I had planned for my mum and dad, sister and her family, a favourite aunt and a long lost friend all to come up for a posh meal at a lovely italian restaurant on Saturday, stay over night and then all have brunch on Sunday. (Again, it was after the fact, but it's really hard to get bookings and this was as close to our anniversary as I could get). So on Friday my sil arranges a 'beauty day' at her house and my mate who does my nails and her mate who is a beautician come round and give me a makeover, supposedly so that I can recreate it the next night for this posh meal. Sil says, leave your ds with me, I'll drop him back later and put him to bed, why don't you see if you can persuade dh to take you out tonight, seeing as you're all done up. I say it's unlikely he can manage 2 nights out in a row (he is disabled and gets very tired easily) then go off shopping for presents for everyone for the next day.
Arrive home about half 6, and make a jokey remark about taking me out. He's on computer at the time, barely looks up but says 'go on then, Metal Mickey (biker mate of his who I barely know) is having a bash tonight. Let's just go there for half an hour and then come back to our local. So I'm pottering round unstacking the dishwasher, wrapping presents, generally messing about, till finally i go and sling some jeans and heels on and we leave. As we get in the car he hands me a Yorkie and says 'that's the last of your presents'. I laugh and say, i don't like Yorkies and anyway it says they're not for girls.
Arrive at wmc and wander in to metal mickeys bash to find that he has orgainised a surpise party for me, complete with all my family from down South who I didn't think were arriving til the next day, food, a disco and a cake!!!!! I was speechless. And the best bit is that all of those random pressies were all part of it.
Pan = P
Alcohol = A
Rest and relaxation at spa = R
Timepiece (Watch) = T
Yorkie = Y
I still cannot beleive it. The whole weekend was wonderful, it was great to have my family around for the extra day, the meal was amazing in the evening and brunch all together the next day worked really well, even if it was a bit of a squash to get 11 round my table and I had to borrow garden chairs off my neighbour. I think I might just keep him for another 20 years. Man, he is going to get 'so' much mileage out of this!!!
It's just wonderful because we've had a really hard time adjusting since ds was born; 17 years on our own together and suddenly we never seemed to have any time for each other, and were narky with each other coz of tiredness etc, and this really has restored my faith in the depth of his love and appreciation for me.