silver

In September 1987, DH and I took a train to the American Embassy in Tokyo, where a consul performed a quick and simple ceremony. Afterwards we had lunch at the Imperial Hotel with the two friends who had been our witnesses, then DH and I flew to Sapporo for the weekend.

Thus were we married.

Fast forward 25 years and low key is still the name of the game around here. We talked about ways we might celebrate this purported milestone, but nothing really appealed. The kids both had classes, and we were all in the middle of a busy month.

In the end we went out for breakfast, browsed books at the library, made lunch and worked on projects around the house. Then we sat and played ukulele together. I showed DH what I'd learned at the recent Wine Country Uke Fest, and we tried a couple of basic duets.

Dinner was miso ramen, a nod to our honeymoon city of Sapporo. And after dinner C, who a few summers ago was "ordained" through the Universal Life Church, officiated as we renewed our vows on the deck. S brought the rings, now a couple sizes too small, and Maggie played the part of the rude and noisy guest.

It was just right.

C in impromptu clerical collar, trying to look priestly

S the ring bearer

After dinner we sat around and reminisced about what 25 years had brought us. In addition to the boys, we can mark our marriage by having:

traveled in 8 countries
lived in 3 of those countries
bicycled the perimeters of 2 of them
rented 4 apartments
slowly fixed up one house, and then another
kept 5 dogs, 5 cats, 1 goat, 1 sheep and countless chickens

And of course, the Silver Anniversary is so named because of all the silver hair, right?

What are the numbers in your life?