What did you do to mark the first year with the person in your life? How about other years?
You see, I’m new to the long-term relationship thing. I’m coming up on one year (a whole year! I can hardly believe how lucky I am!) with my long-distance boyfriend, and I’m looking for ideas to mark the occasion. Special presents, imaginative or sentimental dates, fun ways to spend our time together and make a memory. I feel like it’s important enough to celebrate: not only have we been together a year, but we’ve managed to keep things alive despite the 500 miles between us.
So, what have you done to celebrate relationship milestones?
Let’s see - my wife & I celebrated our 20th Anniversary last week. She took our 13 year old daughter to get a tooth extracted. I had lunch with 2 sales guys in a different state. Do we know how to celebrate or what?
Now that you mention it, the one year mark is coming up for me as well. We probably won’t do anything that special, just a nice dinner and enjoyment of each other’s company. Like you, we’ve been dealing with the long distance thing these past four months, so that should be plenty of celebration for us. Well, in addition to the sex.
Back with my ex, we did a few things. We went to this island on Lake Erie for a day (Put-In-Bay, anyone?). Had a nice outdoor lunch and just traversed the island all day. Went to Cedar Point one time. That was fun.
Try to do something relaxed, familiar, and, most importantly, fun. Put-In-Bay was my favorite of all the “celebrations” because it was so stress-free and enjoyable. We tried this fancy dinner once for Valentine’s Day, but she got all upset about something-or-other and we got lost on the way to the restaurant. It wasn’t cool.
So I guess I’m saying keep it simple. A small gift, a nice picnic, whatever you’s two can enjoy together. Oh, and congrats on the one year mark.
My daughter’s birthday and her elder sister’s birthday are only a day apart, 13th and 14th of January respectively. My girlfriend told both me and her older daughter’s father of her pregnancies on the same day (different years obviously), the day of the North West 200, which is coming up this Saturday
Agree. Don’t make too big a deal out of it, or else you are setting yourself up for a letdown. Something easy that you both really enjoy is a good thing.
My DH was in the Navy and deployed during our first anniversary, so I think I probably spent the evening eating popcorn in front of the TV , but other years we’ve done stuff like gone to a favorite restaurant, attended a concert, gone to a ball game, etc. Nothing overly fancy.
Our eighth anniversary was yesterday. We went to Marie Livingston’s for steak dinner. We got each other a card, and I made her laugh because I bought her a little box of chocolates. That’s one of those cliche things we never do, so it was fun.
We spent our first anniversary as a couple, on the phone.
I agree with the sentiment about “keep it simple.” You don’t want to get into a position where you feel you have to outdo each other every year.
We make a huge turkey dinner with all the trimmings, have appetizers, a few desserts, invite the entire family over and eat, visit, and watch football on TV.
It’s a blast every year!
My anniversary is November 25. We celebrate it on Thanksgiving.
The first few anniversaries, we went out together and bought a piece of art for the house together.
Didn’t need to be expensive, but of course we both liked it. Good way to spend time together, and get something we like. It can be an original, a print, a vase, a bowl, whatever. Bought a stained glass lamp one year.
Lately, we have been trying in to start a new tradition. Camping. Yup. We own 40 acres about 40 minutes from our house. It’s a beautiful place to sit, have a fire and play with the dogs.
It’s a good place to reflect, and it just feels good to sit on it and speculate about what we may do with it in the future.
First advice: Shit-can the long distance thing. Its a poor substitute for human interaction, in my opinion (hot dog! I’m even in the right forum!) Find someone you can “reach out and touch” and not use electronic medium.
Me and my wife? We get trees. We have an orchard of fruit trees for mother’s day/father’s days. They (sometimes) last much longer than anything else, cost less and look better. Plus, they increase the property value.
Weddings? Aside from the uncomfortable glares back and forth, I haven’t figured this one out yet. I’m thinking a car this year. Anyone got a cherry P1800 for sale? Quick!
Honestly. The older you get, the less these milestones become significant. It just becomes part of “real life”.
Go out and get some “Kentucky Fried Chicken” or have her take you to sushi. But shit-can the long-distance crap. Its a crutch for not having someone there.
You do realize, that situations exist in which people fall in love and then are separated by distance? Or, with the internet being what it is, people can fall in love over a bigger distance?
Yes, thank you for pointing out that it sucks not to be able to reach out and touch my boyfriend. I live with that little bit of hurt every day. Poor substitute for human interaction? I interact with him daily, in the best way I can (talking to him on the phone, internet, whatever), because right now we live far apart and can’t be together.
Eventually, I will move closer to him, if things work out as I’d like them to. But that’s not an option yet, so yes, I’m living with a long distance relationship that I am in no way willing to “shit-can” because it’s hard to live with.
What do you say to military wives whose husbands are sent overseas for months or years at a time? Divorce the bastards because the relationship is a poor substitute?
