My husband and I have reached the stage in our marriage
where we don’t always exchange gifts for our anniversary. The behavior that would have sent me into a
tailspin thirty years ago, forgetting our anniversary, now passes without much
reaction and absolutely no punishment.
In the early years of our marriage the sin of forgetting our
anniversary has been known to be acknowledged with a thank you card. Inside a heart-felt note, and the bill for
whatever I bought to “celebrate” our special day, was my personal way of
reminding him it’s probably cheaper to remember than to forget.
All that’s behind us now, and it’s not that we don’t
acknowledge the date and take a moment to wonder where the years have gone….we
do. But we don’t dig out the
traditional list of gifts for anniversaries and try to find something to fit. Actually, it’s a good thing we don’t,
because we just had our 49th and there is no traditional gift for
the 49th anniversary! The
list goes from the 45th year (sapphire), to the 50th
(gold) and then on to the 60th (diamond). Maybe it’s because not a lot of people make
it to those anniversaries, or maybe it’s because you probably don’t need
anything by the time you’ve reached these milestones.
Earlier this year I did a story for Heart of Ohio Magazine
on The Mohicans, a resort down around Loudonville that has some beautiful
cottages, two amazing tree houses and The Grand Barn event center where they
hold weddings and other events. Larry
wanted to see the places, so he tagged along.
The whole time I fired questions at our guide for the day, my husband walked
around shaking his head and saying “wow”. He
made it clear he was impressed and smitten with the whole property, and it’s
not something he usually does.
So….as the date for our anniversary rolled around, I thought
about how much he liked the tree houses and decided that would be a great surprise
for him. We would spend a night in the
tree house. He really loved the red one
that had been on a TV show after we went to do the interview on site, so that’s
the one I chose.
When the date arrived we packed up a few things to take
along, stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken for two dinners (we really have our
elegant moments, don’t we?) and headed to The Mohicans.
When we arrived we dropped off our paperwork, got our
instructions and headed to the tree house.
It was a chilly evening, but the sun down promised to be spectacular and
the woods were newly leafed and aromatic. Climbing the hill with our bags and, most importantly, our
extra crispy chicken, we were anxious to get settled in.
Once we got inside we could appreciate looking out into the woods
and listening to the….quiet. The coffee
table in the sitting area boasted a bottle of wine and a lavish cheese and
fruit plate,
compliments of our three thought kids. Well, one is thoughtful and the other two are
great financial contributors to anything she comes up with; you know who you
are.
As darkness fell we experienced the deepest, most enveloping
silence either of us could ever remember. The velvety darkness wrapped us in an
unearthly quiet that was only broken by the occasional rustle of leaves from
the floor of the woods below us. It was
wonderful.
When it was time for bed we climbed the ladder into the
loft, snuggled into bed and drifted off to sleep. The comforting quiet and the smell of freshly
hewn wood worked like a sleeping pill; morning arrived almost as soon as I
closed my eyes.
With Friday morning's sun-washed
arrival came the challenge of getting back down the ladder. I have to admit to being height
challenged…anything higher than a one inch heel on my shoe will send me into
panic mode. Larry patiently assisted
with my decent, and I will forgive him for his comments, derisive laughter
Watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee on the deck was
amazing, while indoors the sunlight through the stained glass, east-facing
window left patterns on the walls that bathed the room with color.
As I admired the light display I happened
to notice a little notebook left for comments.
Inside I read accounts from other occupants of the little red tree
house. One entry from January described
the blissful quiet and the snug feeling of tranquility; every entry spoke of
the beauty of that particular season and the wish to return to the embrace of
this little house. Larry and I would
second that. As I admired the light display I happened
to notice a little notebook left for comments.
I don’t really have a bucket list, but if spending the night
in a tree house had been on my list I’m not sure I’d cross it off….more likely
I’d encase it in parenthesis and plan to do it all over again. It just proves you’re never too old to have a
happy childhood.
Thanks to The Mohicans we had a memorable wedding
anniversary. If you Google The Mohicans
Treehouse you can see the project for yourself. It has the Larry and Diana Coon stamp of
approval.
Life is Good
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