Commemorating our Iron Anniversary and the start of a new chapter…
Hitting our 6th year, our Iron Anniversary, is a tremendous gift. It’s hard to boil down the exact sentiment of Year Six, what this season in our lives has amounted to, in a few words. Trying to summarize the growth (and growing pains) of this past year feels vague and vexing.
Year Six isn’t really a milestone anniversary, is it? It’s not like a first, fifth, or tenth… Some well-rounded “you-made-it” number worth celebrating. In fact, this past year has offered some of the most painful lessons and experiences that it’s hard to find a reason to celebrate it at all.
But, even still, surviving to see this Iron Anniversary is a gift for which we’re grateful. We have made it here, even if it feels as though we have so little to show for it.
I have this picture in my head: we’ve been ironing over kinks in fabric for so long, and as this year comes to a close, we realize the iron was never turned on. Fruitless toil that, in some ways, did more harm than good. At the end of Year Six, we find ourselves deeply humbled and soul-crushed.
But we now have a gift of wisdom and experience to finally heat up the iron for our 6th anniversary. We’re learning. And it’s time to start ironing out those kinks.
Forge On
This is why I know that Nathan and I have what it takes. Y’know, marriage for a lifetime, however long that is. True hardship smelts us closer together. We’re hot, molten metal, even though we absolutely feel like the slag.
Man, this is a downer. Long story short: this past year, we made a LOT of mistakes that we didn’t see as mistakes when we made them, and now our eyes are opened. And life is hammering the shit out of our wrought-iron asses.
Heat up the forge; beauty from ashes. Make us into something new.
In our humility, we draw closer together, when we could just as easily withdraw. Project exasperation, or shame, or anger, or grief… Weaponize our hearts, wield our emotions as slings and arrows. But we don’t. We’ll survive the trials… and consequences… together.
Iron sharpens iron, we’re stronger together, and this 6th anniversary gift of clarity will carry us forward together into our future years. Our family will be stronger for it. So, yeah, it was a tough one, but we’re grateful for the lessons.
Our Iron Anniversary Day
The gift that also keeps giving this Iron Anniversary: disappointment. Oh, and opportunities to flex the “shifting expectations” muscle. I had it planned since last year that we’d go to a local blacksmithing forge and make mini rail-spike knives together. Sent multiple unanswered emails and didn’t get a call out in time before they were booked up.
Whomp-whomp. It was an awesome idea for an Iron Anniversary mutual gift, had it worked out. Still, it was a pleasant enough weekend. Took the kids up to Stonelake in Austin to have a “fancy lupper” at The Roaring Fork (known for using cast-iron cookware), followed by playtime at a Catch Air indoor play zone on Saturday.
Sunday, our actual anniversary day, was the aforementioned forge day. When that didn’t work out, we shifted our plans to The Weighted Plate (due to the “pumping iron” nod). No food available till later in the day, no dice. And I’m so glad it didn’t work out.
We drove up to San Marcos for a family adventure. A delightful meal at the Blue Dahlia Bistro secret garden with a refreshing carafe of elderberry mimosa. Browsing in a GOT toy store with Orson and Nova. A sweet treat at Icy Rolls (meh… wouldn’t go back).
We wrapped it all up with some overstimulated and very sweaty meltdowns at Putt Pub… where they now play their ambient music WAY. TOO. LOUD. I guess “putting irons” was a bit of a stretch for theme, wasn’t it? Oh well.
Ended the evening on a calming, connected note: playing Mario Kart World on the Switch 2 with our kiddos, before Nathan ran out to grab us some H-E-B sushi.
It was simple. Maybe not what we’d hoped, maybe going through some commemorative motions in light of the lessons we’ve recently learned… But we spent it together. Older and wiser.
Year Six
Year Seven will be better. Maybe, with that iron turned on, with scales removed from our eyes, our next anniversary will prove to be far more fruitful and fulfilling. All that being said, mistakes made, lessons learned, we still had a lot of wonderful memories worth sharing.
And, as he has every year since we married, Nathan absolutely delivered.