Marlena was very well behaved at dinner. She ate her food, spoke quietly, stayed in her chair, politely engaged in conversation, and even tried her father’s Cosmo. (She hated it and it made her eyes water.) She drank her first Shirley-Temple too, but happily declared it too fizzy.

Oliver cried through the entire meal. He sat with us, was pretty happy until they brought out the bread, and then cried. He didn’t want to be held, set down, nursed, walked, or anything.

So our anniversary was spent bolting down a delicious gourmet meal to the sound of our baby crying.

On the upside, when we got home, both children went to sleep. We were able to toast each other, and have some quiet alone time after all.

Thank you for agreeing to join me in life. Thank you for liking roller coasters, having ambition, and seeing no bounds to our individual potential. Thank you for being a softy, and for sharing my need to take in strays and be surrounded by, and covered in, fur. Thank you for believing in magic and maintaining your sense of wonder.

Thank you for being frustratingly practical, and for making me think things through. Thank you for waking me up with a cup of coffee, even when I want to sleep. Thank you for waking up the baby, simply because you want a chance to play with him. Thank you for playing games with Marlena, and getting her riled up right before bedtime.

Thank you for telling me I am beautiful, when I call you a pain in the ass. Thank you for holding me when I cry, and understanding that I need to. Thank you for bringing me ice water, even when you weren’t going downstairs. Thank you for telling me you love me everyday, and for being willing to build a life with me, everyday.

Thank you for our family, and everything you do to keep us safe, and healthy, and happy.

Most of all, thank you for you. You are everything I could want in a partner, and I am beyond blessed to have you here with me. Happy Anniversary.

Part I.
The Anniversary
Scene opens in a car, with a mother, a daughter, and a baby on their way out shopping.
“Mommy, where are we going today?”
“To buy Daddy a present.”
“Yeah, because you need to get him something for his birthday.”
“No honey, I need to get something for our anniversary.”
“What’s an anniversary?”
“It’s a celebration of the day we got married.”
“Oh, yeah, am I going to be there?”
“Yes honey, we are going to take the family out to dinner and then we are going to come home, put you to bed, and daddy and I are going to have some alone time.”
“Oh Yeah! Can we stay up late and watch a movie cause I love movies and it’s a special night so I can stay up really late, like midnight!”
“No honey, mommy and daddy want some alone time, so after dinner we will be putting you to bed.”
“Can I help pick out the present?”
“Well thank you honey, but I think I know what I am going to get him.”
“Yeah, so I can help you pick out something really special.”
“No honey, I think I know what I want to get your daddy.”
“Oh. Well can I get him something myself? Oh, but I can’t! I can’t shop by myself, but if you come with me, you will know what I got!”
“Honey, it’s all right, you don’t have to get us anything, it’s not that kind of celebration.”
“I can make a card!”
“A card would be great.”

Part II.
The Driving Lesson:
Scene opens with a mom, a daughter, and a baby in a car, stuck behind a long river of cars.
“Oh god, here is the traffic.”
“Maybe you should turn around mommy.”
“No honey, we need to go this way.”
“But there isn’t any traffic behind us.”
“You’re right, but home is this way, and we need to go home.”
“Maybe we could go home another way if we had a map and found a way without traffic.”
“Maybe honey, but we are stuck here now.”
“Yeah, cause you didn’t turn around.”

Part III.
The Interrogation:
Scenes are a montage of many different common moments in the day of a mother, opening mail, cooking dinner, working on the computer. Also in the scene is a daughter and baby.
Scene I.
“Sigh.”
“What Mommy?”
“Huh? What do you mean what?”
“You sighed. Why did you sigh?”
“No reason honey, I didn’t even notice I did it.”
Scene II.
“Darn.”
“What Mommy? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing honey.”
“But you said Darn.”
“Nothing you need to worry about honey.”
“But why did you say darn?”
“No reason honey, it’s nothing you need to worry about.”
Scene III.
Giggle
“What’s funny Mommy?”
“Just reading something honey”
“What is it?”
“It’s a blog about parenting honey, you probably won’t find it funny.”
“Can you tell me anyway?”
Scene IV.
“What Mommy?”
“Yes Honey?”
“You made a sound. What?”
“Sweetie, I get to make sounds without having to explain them all to you.”
“Okay.”
“But, why did you make that sound Mommy?”

Part IV.
The Explanation:
Scene opens in the kitchen, with the mother stopped in the middle of some activity, baby on her hip. The daughter stands before her.

“Mommy, maybe when I am older, like maybe Ten, or Seven, or maybe next week, you know not today, but when I am older, like tomorrow, maybe then you can get me a checkers game, but not a kid one, a grown up one like the one they play in Little Bill, you know with Bobby and April in the episode where he can’t find his thing?”
“You mean a chess board?”
“Yes.”
“Your father and I have chess boards honey. We both like to play.”
“Really? Can you teach me how to play? Maybe when we get home, I don’t mean right away, I mean after I am done with my homework and you are done with dinner and putting the baby to bed and before I go to bed if I can stay up late to play.”

Close Curtain.