The morning of our anniversary was really good–Chad got hired for a part-time job, I got most of his scrapbook present finished (even though he came home and caught me working on it unexpectedly!) and I managed to get him a toolbox full of shiny tools while he was interviewing (bringing it home on my bike, no less!). Also, Chad gave me a lovely ice tea maker, a chocolate chip cookie, and a gift certificate to a Paper Goods store! The afternoon, however, became an entire other story.

From the time we left home, everything seemed to be going wrong. As I mentioned before, we bought tickets to see Guster alongside Ben Folds Five and the Bare Naked Ladies, and the concert was in Detroit at the DTE Energy Theater. After a few minor complications running errands before leaving, we then had trouble with the directions going to the hotel. Then, we had worse trouble with directions from the hotel to the Theater! We wished in vain for working iPhones or a GPS as time ticked away and not a single gas station attendant seemed to know where to direct us!

Finally, we arrived at the concert about an hour late, finding out Guster only had about 4 or 5 songs left in their set. This obviously bummed us out, but on the bright side, we had really nice lawn seats, the sun was shining, and we were looking forward to Ben Fold Five at the very least.

As we were waiting for Ben Folds Five to come on, a younger couple approached us and asked if we’d like two extra tickets they had for seats in the 19th row. They said the guy’s dad’s company often got free tickets to shows, and that two of their friends bailed on them. We were really excited! I told them it was our anniversary, they said they were glad they chose us, and I told Chad, “That’s why we got here late!”

We took this shot right before the couple approached.

As we watched Ben Folds Five, I felt so happy. The couple leaned over to tell us that the tickets were VIP and that we could get drinks without waiting in line. I thought about how the day was going to turn out after all, and about how people really are nice sometimes! To be honest, by that point I had been getting exhausted with trying to stay positive, but now I felt like it had all been worth it.

Just as Ben Folds Five finished, they leaned over and asked us, “So, are you guys going to get drinks?” Chad and I looked at each other and then back at them. Chad said, “Uh, I guess so.” The girl replied quickly, “Oh, cool, can you get us some?”

I asked, “What do you want?”

“Oh, anything,” she said.

“Well, do you want beer?”

“Yeah, beer, anything!”

“What kind of beer?”

“Any kind is fine!”

She handed us a twenty and we walked a few feet away. I looked at Chad and said, “What a bummer. They’re totally not old enough, are they.”

Chad agreed, and decided we should go back and say we were leaving and that they could have their tickets back. I was so angry! I had been sitting and thinking of their kindness, only to find out they were using us to buy alcohol. We proceeded to sit in a different area on the lawn that was wet with a terrible view, watched a few horrible Bare Naked Ladies songs, and then left, getting lost on our way back to the hotel again. When we finally did get back to the hotel–putting a cherry on top of everything–there was no running hot water! A maintenance guy came to fix it, and when he finally left, we passed out from exhaustion and a bit of disappointment.

The next day we woke up and took our time before leaving the hotel, going to Trader Joe’s, and meeting a good friend for lunch. We felt better after sleep, and got home without any issues. As we rode home, we both talked about how much better things were going, and we remembered how on our wedding night five years ago we had initially gone to the wrong hotel and had troubles, too. Hopefully that’s not a sign of how every 5 years from now will be, but at least the entire time in between will be filled with an awesome marriage. It’s true that I was discouraged by the evening events on our anniversary, but at the end of the day I still felt glad that at the very least, we went through it together! And compared to a lot of other challenges we’ve faced, that was a piece of cake.

As I’ve written before, no matter what challenges we’ve faced, what kind of day we’ve had or kind of mood we’re in, every day I’m grateful to be married to my best friend. I never have to worry about sounding stupid or about messing up, and I never have to worry about needing someone to talk to because I always have him. He accepts me as I am, but always inspires me to do more, try harder and be better. When we got married, I thought I knew him, yet 5 years later, I feel like I know him like he’s almost an extension of myself! I can’t wait to experience how much closer we grow over the next 5, 15, 25, 55, years and more (even if that means occasionally getting lost and missing a show!).

Happy 5th anniversary (on July 12th), to my sweetheart Chad.