❤️ Happy Anniversary, My Beloved Toby! ❤️

My gift to Toby, a whiskey decanter, on which I had engraved our names, the year we married, 1997, and "Happily Ever After." It came as a set with two sculpted glasses. It's beautiful and he really loved it. I love him so. 

So it's our 23rd anniversary today! I wanted to wish my beloved a very happy anniversary! You make me so happy, Toby, and I am so blessed with you in my life. You're a wonderful husband and the greatest father. I love you!  

Earlier this week we celebrated the 25th anniversary of our first date. That's where it all began. We're here in day whatever of however many of Coronavirus Lockdown 2020, which just got extended to April 30. We understand it, better than ever, and we were never doubters. We just had a family member just a few years younger than we are survive a very terrible pneumonia from it and we're taking it as seriously as we ever have. 

But we are not unable to celebrate. (Honestly, it's a celebration to me to have Toby here with us every day.) We had a lovely dinner with our sweet children in our comfortable home. We are blessed and grateful. 

Today we spent much of it otherwise occupied. Toby is helping our parish navigate the lockdown by recording and setting up streaming options for them. He went to services for that reason. The children and I stayed home and said a "Typica" which is a prayer service you say at home when you cannot go to Divine Liturgy. Once home, Toby needed to see to the films and I needed to get to work. Work is busy and stressful. That's a blessing. We still have work. So many do not. I will not complain about it. I never have complained about too much because I've experienced scarcity of work too often. It's always better to have too much than too little or none at all. I only worry about getting it all done. But it always gets done. Somehow. 

This evening Toby went out and got takeout at our favorite restaurant, Seasons 52, which I've blogged about before (and here). It was a high end takeout from a place I don't think used to do it. Everyone is learning how to survive in a new way and that's not a bad thing. Restaurants are so grateful for business. They included a lovely thank you note in our meal. 

We look forward to safely going out again and using our gift card. That was very nice. I'm sure this will be one of the first places we go to again. I think many of us are rediscovering gratitude, or maybe showing gratitude more. I think we often feel things but are reticent to say them aloud. Let us not holdback these positive feelings from others. It means so much.  

And, we scored a bottle of champagne which is now chilling and waiting for us. 🥂🍾 So, with this, I will sign off. 

Happy Anniversary, my love! May we have many years! (The Orthodox wish you "Many Years" on birthdays and anniversaries. We've come to really love it.)

Thanks for reading!