Anniversary

"Let's open the gifts now," I told Mike, too excited to wait.

"Here? In the car?" he asked.

"Sure. Why not?" I said, grabbing the fat envelope with my name on it and ripping it open.

"It's the book you've been wanting," he explained when I stared at the unfolded paper. "It's not out yet, so I preordered it and printed the receipt. Do you like it?"

"Um, I like it so much that I also preordered it for you."

"What?" he asked. "This exact book?"

"This exact one," I confirmed. "Oh well," I said after several moments of stunned silence. "I got you two gifts, so just ignore the folded paper when you open your present."

"Okay," he said, pulling tissue paper out of of the red gift bag.

"You know what it is, right?" I asked when he stared silently at the DVD cover. "You've wanted this movie for a long time."

"Yeah," he whispered. "It's just that I bought it for you this morning."

"What? Why?"

"Well, I don't know, but I'm a little freaked out right now."

"Maybe we should eat."

"Twenty-three years," Mike said as our salads arrived. "It seems like someone should give us a Lifetime Achievement Award for making it this long."

"I know!" I agreed, slicing into my delectable steak. "I'm just sad there aren't any movies out right now that we really want to see. I hate going to one that we aren't excited about."

"Well, we could skip the movie and just rent one from Redbox."

"And watch it at home with a house full of people?" I asked. "Not very romantic."

"We could put a Do Not Disturb note on the door to the TV room."

"Oh, yeah! Then we could watch a better movie in our pajamas!"

"Do you find it hard to focus on the movie when right out that window we can see the kids shooting off fireworks?" I asked Mike, snuggled under a fluffy blanket.

"It's a bit distracting," he admitted. "I'm sure they will be fine, though."

"They were hoping to watch Dr. Who until we claimed the TV."

"Do you want to call them in and we can all watch it together?"

Twenty minutes later Mike passed bowls of popcorn to all the teenagers crowded onto the couch, and I got out extra blankets.

"Hey," Mike nudged me as the Dr. Who theme music filled the room, "there are your Lifetime Achievement Awards." I looked at the row of kids tucked under blankets, sharing popcorn, smelling of outdoors, fire, and sweat.

"Yeah," I agreed, "there they are. Happy Anniversary."