16th Anniversary

Write me a story of a couple on the cusp of their 16th anniversary. How do they celebrate? Make it romantic. Give me that warm and fuzzy feeling. Show me the love and I'll reward you with extra prizes for this one week!!

Jason surreptitiously packed his bag for the trip. He and Amanda were going away…on a honeymoon of sorts. They’d never had one because he was starting a new job immediately after their wedding, so they decided that after sixteen years of marriage, it was time they had a honeymoon.

Jason slid the package of birthday candles into his bag. The night before their sixteenth anniversary he was going to take them down to the hotel’s kitchen with instructions for a big, beautiful breakfast to be served on their anniversary morning and sixteen candles to be placed in her omelet. He had the reservation for room 416 at the Jefferson Hotel on 16th Street and had planned for the piano player in the hotel restaurant to play their song as well as an assortment of songs themed around sixteen beginning with “16 Tons” followed by “1612” and “16 Candles” and ending with “16 Reasons Why I Love You.” He put the “16 Candles” DVD he’d bought her underneath the shirt on top so it was hidden from accidental exposure. It was wrapped beautifully, but still, he didn’t want to let on that there was anything more than this trip. Jason looked his bag over with pride. It looked as innocent as he’d planned. He was pleased with himself as he looked up the number for the hotel to verify that 16 white roses (her favorite) would be waiting in their room when they arrived.



For Jason and Amanda, this was an important anniversary. They’d managed to survive sixteen years together…three moves, two miscarriages, and one affair—Jason’s. He regretted it even while he was in the act. He swore to himself he’d never tell her, then told her immediately after he returned home from the business trip. She’d asked him to move out. He stayed gone for sixteen and a half weeks before she agreed to go to therapy (his idea) and try to work things out. He promised he’d do whatever he could to make it up to her and he’d stuck to that. He’d turned down several business trips that would have been career boosting. He didn’t work late anymore. He used every tool their counselor gave him to make her feel loved and secure and it seems to have worked. She stayed and their marriage is actually stronger than it has ever been.



Amanda went over her checklist to ensure she hadn’t forgotten anything…reservation for a tour of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—The White House, Joe Montana jersey (#16 and a ‘49er’s player, Jason’s favorite team), poem she’d written for him titled “16 Reasons Why I’m Glad I Married You,” new black teddy (nothing related to the number sixteen, but she figured he wouldn’t mind), and Timex 1600 watch which she’d paid $169 for. It was originally $195, but she talked the sales lady down for the sake of their anniversary. Amanda was pleased with her plans for this anniversary and closed the list-making app on her phone.

It had been a hard year and a half. To be honest, their fifteenth anniversary was spent apart as she made plans for divorce. But things had changed. He had changed. She had changed—and so had her heart. She’d been so full of hate for him when she first found out about his infidelity, that she couldn’t even conceive of a way they could get through this. But he’d worn her down with his patience and gentleness, just like he had when she first declined his invitation for a date or when he first asked her to marry him. Both of these had been on a 16th and it seemed odd that it wasn’t uncommon when one would ask the other what time it was, the time often ended with sixteen.

Sixteen became their “magic” number. They decided to carry that through and were engaged sixteen months and married on the sixteenth of the month. For the longest time they even had date night on the sixteenth of every month, until Jason started taking on more responsibilities at work and trying to get promoted. He had to stay late more nights than not and things started to lose their luster. They’d been told they were lucky to feel like newlyweds as long as they did. Their life seemed to burrow itself into a rut and there they stayed until his “mistake.” That snapped them out of it and almost snapped the neck of their marriage. Recovering had been hard, but once she finally put her heart into it, she found that it wasn’t as impossible as she’d first imagined. And now, she was thankful she’d stuck with it and, in an awkward way she’d never share with him, thankful for what had happened because he seemed to have a new appreciation for her and was finally putting their relationship first again. She’d missed that.



Jason walked out into the kitchen carrying both of their bags.

“Are you ready, Mandy-bear?”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks for getting my bag, honey. I’ll grab the keys and lock up. I love you.”

“I love you, too—more than language can express. See you at the car.”