Year 4

Sunday turned out to be a sweet day indeed.  It rained- just as i'd hoped.
It started raining in the early evening, as we were getting ready & rained for duration of our dinner & then cleared.   It was our first rain in weeks so it felt kind of special, almost like it rained just for us. 

Zane had to work earlier in the day, so I went to meeting & then did a little gift shopping for him afterwards.  I found some things that I knew he would enjoy, but wouldn't buy for himself because he doesn't buy things he doesn't need.  He's smart like that.  I could take note. 

I didn't eat all day because I knew we'd be eating out later; I wanted to have a big appetite for our special dinner. 

I came home, and fell asleep on our bed with Junebug until Zane came home (early!) & woke me up.  His boss let him off a little early for the special occassion.

He handed me two beautiful bouquets- one dozen roses labeled "abracadabra" & a wildflower bunch with a single sunflower.  He also gave me a container of chocolate-covered strawberries & our tradition of two-cards for all occassions- one funny & one serious.  I handed him his blue gift bag (two psp games/his favorite massage oil scent/bath salts- eucalyptus spearmint & a cover for his droid) & of course, his two-cards.  We sat across from each other & watched each other read them. 

Even tho we eat out a lot, this particular dinner felt special because we got to dress up.

Dinner was just as yummy as we remembered it being for my birthday last year.  Hawaiian ribeye steak/hot-out-of-the-oven ciabatta rolls/roasted red-pepper soup/spicy carmelized pecan salad... YUMM!!!

The restaurant opened the doors to the porch dining area so we could hear the rain & the thunder roll. Perfection.

After dinner we parked our car down by the beach & gave each other the lists that we'd made for each other.  We each wrote down all the things that we had learned this past year & all the things we still want to learn.  It's been our toughest year yet & the best thing I can think of is to squeeze all the lessons possible from the past 365 days & use them to make the next 365 as lovely as can be. It was the sweetest, most perfect "icing on the cake" to an already fabulous anniversary.  When Zane pulled out his folded up list from his wallet, i was so surprised & touched to see that he had taken the time to type his in an email at work.  He really put his heart into it.  What more could I ask for?