I had already had a few visitors and wasn't in the mood for more, but I put a smile on my face and went to the door, only to find a huge bouquet of flowers. It wasn't my birthday, or any special occasion and I got annoyed that I would have to track down the true recipient around the neighborhood, because they couldn't be for me. I brought the flowers inside and started looking for a card, but didn't find any.
My husband by then had come into the hallway and I sighed at him. "This has come to our place and I don't know who they belong to. There's no card."
He had a silly grin on his face and said, "They're for you."
I looked at him as if he had gone mad. "What are you talking about? It's not my birthday. What are you buying me flowers for?"
Having lived with this man for thirty years, you tend to know each other intimately and flowers is not something my husband would normally give to me and especially out of the blue. Suddenly he was on one knee before me and holding a tiny purple box up to me. A glittering diamond ring was staring back at me. I stood there in shock as he took my hand.
"Would you please do me the honour of being my bride again? I want to marry you again on our 30th anniversary and renew our vows."
I stood there with my mouth hanging open and all I could do was nod. He stood up, grinning and then we were just kissing and I was crying and it was all a big, mushy romantic moment, concluding with the most beautiful ring I had ever seen, being set in place upon my finger.
The rest of the night just drifted away in a daze of our favourite music, laughter and reminiscing over our wonderful lives together as best friends, lovers and parents of four amazing children, all grown up now with partners and children of their own. I really did get to live the dream and later when we lay in bed, it occurred to me that thirty-one years ago we had stood in another house, in another hallway, in another country and the same scene played out before me. We had only known each other ten days and our news was met with skepticism from everyone we knew.
My husband once told me that it was all the time he needed to know that I was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. I laughed with him at the time. "What? It took you ten days? I only needed three."
On the 24th November 2014 we are going to renew that commitment with our children standing with us and it is as every bit exciting as it was so long ago.
