Out to play

In Chinese, if you ever want to ask someone to hang out with you, you ask them if they want to "play." A strange way of saying things, if you ask me. A bit too reminiscent of elementary school sleepovers or neighborhood kids dropping by to invite you out to ride bikes or tromp through the backyard creek. Nonetheless, that's what we say and now I too often say it the same way in English as well as Chinese. Oops.

Kevin & I took last Monday off as our Anniversary Play Day. In years past, we've tried to do something special for our anniversary: Year 1--a weekend in the Smokey Mountains, Year 2--downtown fun eating at a fancy steak house & seeing "Phantom of the Opera," Year 3...well, Year 3 doesn't count due to jet lag but Amy served us some really good soup at her house (I think...), Year 4--an overnight at the Sheraton. Which brings us to year 5--a little bit more low key due to most of our money & vacation time being allocated to our globe-hopping adoption coming up later in the year.

We stared off the day at Starbucks for coffee, pastry, and quiet. OK well Kevin mostly enjoyed the coffee and pastry but I enjoyed the idea of coffee & pastry. And the quiet & conversation was great for both of us.

Then we headed to Papa John's for lunch. It's funny to think that the restaurant which sponsored my first 10 Mile race back in the states is now part of our international stomping grounds.

After lunch, we biked back home for games & a restful afternoon. Kevin acquiesced to have popcorn for dinner, which is a rarity. He is convinced popcorn does not constitute a real meal. I'm convinced it does. This disagreement usually causes conflict in our marriage but not on anniversary play day. My olive branch was to make him monkey bread for dessert.

I think he was satisfied.

But Kev wasn't the only one with a happy tummy on anniversary play day.

My anniversary present that he'd given me the week before was a turkey. A big ol' bird that he biked an hour in the cold to go buy for me. What a man. I gutted it (and I'd just like to say that these guts were not in a handy-dandy bag. No. When I say "gut," I mean it in the most literal sense. Guts. Real guts. Oozy, gooey guts.), roasted it, carved it...all without nary a kitchen disaster! And after it was all said and done, I let Beans have a little birdie bliss too.

So we may be simpletons in our anniversary celebration but we're satisfied simpletons!