I almost don't want to write a blog post on this because I just don't feel like I can do the last two days justice with my measly words. But, my heart is overflowing. And though this month only marks our 8th anniversary, eight years has been long enough to know that there are seasons to marriage-- easy, happy, comfortable seasons, and ones that maybe...aren't. So, I want to make sure to capture this sweet adventure of ours because it has truly been one of my most favorite memories with Sam. Ever. And I'm praying that at some point down the road, on a day when choosing love isn't easy, I can look back on this little, amazing blip on our marriage radar, and remember how much fun we have together. How taking time to invest in our marriage is worth it. And, how good I am at planning surprises. ha!
Incidentally, all this fun began with a nonchalant comment from Sam and a post on a Facebook yard sale page. Romantic, I know. A few weeks ago when we were watching a Sunday night football game, Sam mentioned that it would be fun to go to a NFL game. We have been to a few NBA games, we've been to a several MLB games, but never a football game. I agreed it would be fun to catch a Panthers or Redskins game sometime. I didn't think much else about it until I saw a post for two Monday Night Football tickets for sale-- for the night before our anniversary. With Sam's crazy work schedule right now (like 80-hours-a-week crazy) and things a bit unsettled at my job, we decided to postpone our annual anniversary trip. But, who says we couldn't get away just for the night?
After I saw that post, I started looking at tickets on eBay, to get an idea if that was a good deal or not. I knew that NFL tickets could be expensive, but once I started looking around, I found that they were actually very reasonable for the Redskins vs. Seahawks matchup (probably because Washington's QB is out for the season. and they're horrible.). After I saw what good seats we could get, Operation Anny-Moon was born. :)
I scoured my email inbox for anything that may have Sam's boss David's address on it. Finally I found an email that Sam forwarded me last year that his boss had been copied on, so I sent him an email to ask if Sam could have off a half day for Monday, and the full day for Tuesday. I let him know that Sam had no idea I was asking, but I wanted to surprise him, but I knew how busy things had been at work, so that I understood if it wasn't possible for him to have off. I was so excited when he emailed back a few hours later saying that he would make it work for Sam to go, and that he would just block his schedule instead of marking it as vacation so that it wouldn't tip off Sam.
The other tricky part to this equation was that baby Alston was due on our anniversary. Sue and Dave have been so nice to keep our girls a lot over the last few weeks, but I knew it could be pushing it for Sue to have them so close to Alston's arrival, since obviously she would want to be there with Corrie and Jeremy for his birth. So, I asked Tabatha if she would mind to be a back up in the event that Corrie went into labor, and she was so kind to agree, which meant I could put a big check mark next to the "Girls" action item!
I got the best tickets I could-- the 14th row. I found a nice hotel-- a cute
boutique hotel on Capitol Hill. I ordered a
cute Redskins shirt. I notified my boss and coworker about my time off. It was a stressful two days putting this little getaway together, but it was so. much. fun. It was
so hard to keep it a secret from Sam, especially on Saturday, when he spilled the beans that he had been hoping to surprise me with a weekend away for our anniversary. Oh My Gift of the Magi. As hard as it was not to tell him then, I just responded with how sweet that was and that we would look into it. Sneaky me.
I didn't mention my plans to our girls until Monday morning, and it turned Harper into a super cling-on. A really sweet one. She was pouting about my leaving, so I was trying to distract her by asking what she thought she would do at preschool, and she replied, "I'll just be missing you so bad." Pitiful girl! Though after she found out she'd be headed to Mimi's, the idea wasn't so bad. The weather was
beautiful, and I happily drove out to the Appalachian Power SML Dam (which I had never been to, and that showed in the number of gravel roads I traveled in error), and I pulled up, nervous to surprise Sam. It is not your average workplace, so I couldn't really plan what my "ta-da!" moment was going to be like, so it was funny to me that when I arrived, he was stuck on the top of the dam. His boss called him and asked him to look over the back of the dam, where he then saw me waving obnoxiously from the parking area below.
We took backroads through central Virginia, making our way through delightful farm towns, and drove the four and a half hours with no cell phones, no radio, no DVD player. Just daydreaming, laughing, talking. It was beyond nice. We found our way to our hotel, checked in and changed, walked around the block for dinner at The Dubliner (as in the Dublin-er, not to be confused with the Dub-liner. Inside joke.). After waiting for-ev-er in parking traffic, we made it into FedEx Field just after kick off. And it was fun from beginning to end. Though expected to be a blowout, it was a competitive game, and Sam and I had a blast cheering together (Go Alfred Morris!) and meeting some fun Seattle fans.
A little clip of "Hail to the Redskins" after a Washington touchdown.
As fun and loud and fast as Monday was, Tuesday was just the opposite. We slept in, leisurely strolled through the National Mall, taking in monuments and museums along the way. I have always wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum, but knew it would be a somber, saddening time, so I didn't know if I really wanted to do that on our anniversary. But, we did. Our three hours there after lunch were not fun-filled and carefree, but mindblowing. I have been unsettled ever since. And though it was probably not a conventional anniversary date, it was heart-changing. Viewing the disgusting truth of the Holocaust helped put our lives and love in perspective. How fortunate we are, and how responsible we are to teach our precious girls differently.
Our time in D.C. was so short, but oh so sweet. I came home exhausted, but in love. And that's a pretty great way to ring in a new year of marriage.
