Fruit, Flowers, Fourth Anniversary

Paper, check. Cotton, check. Leather, check! And yet again, we celebrate the birth of our marriage, four years ago today. The traditional gift for the fourth anniversary is fruit and flowers, which represent fertility, hope, growth, creativity, and renewal. What a perfect time in our marriage to be welcoming a new baby - and the FOURTH member of our family at that! With only three days left before we meet our second-born son, Sam and I decided this exciting time in our lives was gift enough. We did not exchange our typical gifts, since our fruit, our flower is on his way in just a few short days! However, we did enjoy our day and spent it well together.

This morning, Banner cuddled in bed with me after Sam went to work. Banner and I watched "Our Fourth Year" - the DVD I made for Sam documenting our year together. This is the third video Banner and I have watched together now before Sam gets to see it later that night. I like that this has become yet another tradition for our anniversary. It's fun for Banner to look back at his year, too - and he seems to remember so much of it! He would make comments about who was in the picture, where we were, or what we were doing. He made connections to other events that occurred at a certain time a picture was taken.

Later in the day, Sam came home early so we could phone conference with the rabbi about Baby's upcoming (private) bris and the Hebrew name we will give to him at that time. Fitting, I thought, to be talking about this baby on such an important date - with the same rabbi who officiated our wedding ceremony exactly four years ago.

Then, Mom came over to stay with Banner so Sam and I could go out on our last date night before Baby's arrival. We had a nice Hibachi dinner, went to grab ice cream, and then headed home fairly quickly once we got a call from Mom that Banner was really missing us. Once we got him to sleep, Mom left, and Sam and I settled in to watch our annual video. I absolutely LOVE making these videos for Sam, and I love recalling how we spent our year, how loved we are, how many amazing people we have in our lives, and how much Banner (and perhaps my belly this particular year!) has grown. We are truly blessed!

Another part of our anniversary tradition has grown to include showing our video to friends and family who wish to see it. I love sharing the video with them because it documents their past year as well, and I want them to see how important, special to, and loved by us they are! They lift us up, make us laugh, give us strength, and make our days even brighter.

Last year, Sam made a joke as we toasted to our three years of marriage. He said, "Here's to three more!" which made us laugh as if that was all we wanted out of being married. But, then we realized, really, if we always aim to make it as long as we've made it already, we're not asking for much, and we're always doubling the time we've spent together. So, even though it makes us laugh a little, I truly mean it when I say that the past four years have been amazing and "Here's to four more!"

Happy Anniversary, Sam! I love you!!

Our fruit and flowers! :)

Fourth DVD

DVD Menu