26 and Counting

by gillis

Last night we celebrated our 26th Wedding Anniversary along with our children. Is Wedding Anniversary something that requires capitalization? I’m sure I’m supposed to know that as I currently teach ELA to middle schoolers, but like a mammogram or a pap smear, it only comes around once a year, and I think I’ve established on this blog that my memory is being used for really important things these days, like childhood friends’ birthdays and song lyrics from the 70s and 80s. In any case, we were pretty sure that the 26th anniversary was to be celebrated with processed food, just as the 25th one is supposed to be celebrated with silver. We do like to follow tradition. Last year we bobbed for loose, silver-colored coins in the local mall water feature and made just enough money to go out to eat in the food court. Last night we had the traditional Gillis-Luf celebratory meal of nachos (true, this is our Christmas family meal) and watched tv. This celebration had all of the markings of family tradition we’ve come to expect- such as last minute substitutions and mild, almost piquant, simmering resentments. To make the nachos, some mysterious sliced muenster cheese had to be added to the small nub of Monterey jack we all were convinced was much, much larger the night before, although no one would own up to eating any of it. Seriously though, who slices and eats Monterey jack as if it were cheddar or some other hard slicing cheese? I have always thought of Monterey jack as a melting cheese. None of us were willing to give up on our meal of nachos so we soldiered on with the muenster. Until we realized there were no black beans. This was too much for me, and I refused to allow pinto beans on the nachos. We were using the “good chips” dammit, and there would be no substitutes on the beans. Standards were adhered to and there were no beans. In the end, we ate chips and cheese with guacamole, peach chipotle salsa, and sour cream. So basically, our anniversary was spent eating ball park food and arguing over the tv. An absolutely perfect evening with the people I absolutely love the most.