I usually try not to make big changes to posts, but when I wrote this the first time I was tired and it was late, so I'm revising this whole thing from beginning to end, hopefully improving it.
Today is our 17th anniversary. In the early years we bought each other gifts according to the traditional gifts lists. We bought each other paper and wood and cotton and such. But in recent years we've decided to buy joint gifts. A couple recent ones have been paintings by artist friends. Unfortunately those tend to take a long time to create and we're not good at following up on their progress. So this year KR and I agreed to not even talk about gifts. We did 17 things together instead.
(1) I brought KR coffee in bed and we
(2) reminisced over our wedding album. We had such big hair (both of us)! KR has been making fun of her wedding dress for some time now, and all I remembered was how beautiful she looked. But this time through the photos I could see what she was talking about, what with the puffy sleeves and high neckline. But it was 1990, still the '80s here in Pittsburgh. She was a great-lookin' late-80's bride, and made my knees weak when she walked down the aisle to me. We set the album aside and
(3) xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx and
(4) xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx, then we
(5) walked the dogs.
(6) We had breakfast at Drew's (omelettes and orange juice) and made some plans for the rest of the day. On the way to our next stop we
(7) stopped in Bloomfield at Paul's CDs, where KR asked them to order a CD for her. (Apparently some people have not yet learned about the Internet and still have stores order stuff for them.) We browsed around a bit, then continued to our next stop,
(8) Perk Me Up, for tea (for me) and a double-shot of espresso (for KR), and a little friendly abuse from the nice ladies behind the counter. (A few days ago while I was bed-ridden with a life-threatening head cold KR told them what a big baby I was being.) While there we bought a few of their world-famous macaroons and
(9) took them to KR's store for her assistant, who was holding down the fort so KR could have the day off.
After only a few minutes we left and
(10) went to The Mattress Factory, a favorite art gallery of ours. We hadn't been there for years, so it was good to see it again. It is home to one of KR's favorite works of art, by Jene Highstein. It is a huge, round concrete mass taking up most of a room's space. KR can't keep her hands off of it. She walks around it, trailing just her fingertips or her palms or the side of her whole body on its rough surface. It is beautiful in its plainness—it is concrete-colored and -textured—and in its mass. The room is small, so you can't back up far enough to get a look at the whole thing. It demands to be closely scrutinized and handled. Check out The Mattress Factory if you're in the 'Burgh.
KR had a surprise for our next stop. She directed me to a parking spot near
(11) Kaya in the Strip District, where we had sipping tequila and tapas. This was the highlight of the day, in my book. Great booze, great food. We discussed where we wanted to have our big fancy anniversary dinner, but came up empty. Cafe Breugge was likely to be a zoo on Saturday night, and we didn't feel like driving far for the River Moon Cafe or anything else. While in the Strip District we
(12) walked over to the Society for Contemporary Crafts, where KR once worked, more than 17 years ago. As we walked in she said, "It smells the same."
We went home in time for
(13) our 5:00 tequila shot. Netflix had delivered the final disc of Firefly, so we
(14) watched an episode. We
(15) toasted each other with the champagne my brother gave to KR at Christmas, while watching another Firefly episode. We didn't feel like leaving the house again, so instead of a fancy-schmancy dinner we
(16) ate Trader Joe's pita chips and hummus (why is it tahini-free?) while watching the last episode of Firefly.
Finally we
(17) exchanged cards. KR shrieked when we opened them. We had both bought them at Divertido, just a block down from KR's shop. KR asked the store owner, one of our new Lawrenceville buddies, to tell her if she was buying the same card I had bought. "Am I hot or cold?" she said. The owner said, "You're so cold." It was the same card. She's funny, our friend.
Seventeen was a good year (I'm very aware how lucky I've been), and one of our best anniversary days.