Anniversareeeeee

"It's the thought that counts..." - some kuripot dude

I am that person who cringes at the mere mention of a "monthsary". To begin with, it is not even a word according to Pareng Merriam and Webster. Relationships, to me, are counted by the moments and experiences shared together. Also, I believe that you should count by the years, not by mere months. It's like saying "This is my syota (as in short time - fling)" instead of "This is my girlfriend".

Almost a month ago, Hans and I celebrated a milestone in our relationship - our first year anniversary. Prior to that, I am really not expecting much especially since we were pretty tied up with work, previous engagements, and the holidays. We decided to just wing it and just enjoy each other that day. We took Skye to SM for a round of Time Crisis that day and since we don't want to spend the time waiting for Skye's token stash to run out, we decided to roam around the mall. He brought me to his favorite store: ACE hardware. For the longest time, he's been fascinated with those vacuum cleaners with blowers because he believes that they can do a lot more than clean. Most probably too is because the salesman was that darn good.

"Gusto mo?", he asked me.

"Well yeah, I think it's nice and it will be a big help in cleaning the apartment"

"Let's get it. My anniversary gift", he said with a big smile that makes you think an imaginary light bulb just lit up above his head.

He bought the vacuum cleaner and gave it to me. Don't get me wrong... I am really happy with the gift. What's bothering me is that a gift that means you should clean the house on your anniversary isn't exactly what you can call romantic. I do like our habit of giving each other functional gifts, or gifts that we could actually use and not let to rot after the event is over (he gave me croocs and portable ashtrays for Valentine's).This time, however, a vacuum cleaner is sooo.... domestic?

Anniversary dinner was an unplanned trip to RSM at Tagaytay with to die for bulalo. Fate was at his side because our anniv dinner was graced by a fireworks display in the midst of him telling me how wonderful the past year has been for him because I was in it. The way he said it was so sincere that I really thought the fireworks were a part of the act. Bad trip, timing lang pala. We did try to make it more romantic by spending time whispering sweet nothings on one of the resto's swings, but by the time we were on our fifth minute, we decided that the extreme cold and our inappropriate clothing (pambahay clothes, mind you!) made it suicidal, not romantic.

Maybe it's a woman thing to expect for flowers, chocolates, and the whole nine yards for such events, but as I think about it on the drive home, I just realized that it couldn't get any more romantic than this. Flowers rot and chocolates make you fat, but the vacuum cleaner is something that says "I am seeing a future with you being the queen of my house and I want to make it easier for you when dealing with the domestic stuff". We may not have that supposed dinner by candlelight churvaness, but it may be because the comfort food we ate symbolizes how comfortable he is around me. What we needed, more than the perks, was quality time... and we got that. Him and me and the memories of the past year... perfect.

I can say that it has been a very wonderful year...

note: A few days after the anniversary, he forced me to sleep while he took Skye out to the Mall. Upon returning, the two had this secret plan that I discovered upono entering the car - a small pillow from the small boy and a very big bunny carrying roses from the big boy, of which I named BJ - Baby Johanne. :D