In honor of my anniversary today — and to anyone else with one in the month of January — I thought you might enjoy this poem my husband Michael sent me — and this is not our 50th anniversary! We’ll be a little farther south celebrating it this week. I’m going to hold him to the champagne!

The Longly-Weds Know by Leah Furnas

That it isn’t about the Golden Anniversary at all,
But about all the unremarkable years
that Hallmark doesn’t even make a card for.

It’s about the 2nd anniversary when they were surprised
to find they cared for each other more than last year

And the 4th when both kids had chickenpox
and she threw her shoe at him for no real reason

And the 6th when he accidentally got drunk on the way
home from work because being a husband and father
was so damn hard

It’s about the 11th and 12th and 13th years when
they discovered they could survive crisis

And the 22nd anniversary when they looked
at each other across the empty nest, and found it good.

It’s about the 37th year when she finally
decided she could never change him

And the 38th when he decided
a little change wasn’t that bad

It’s about the 46th anniversary when they both
bought cards, and forgot to give them to each other

But most of all it’s about the end of the 49th year
when they discovered you don’t have to be old

to have your 50th anniversary!!!!