Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Anniversary Box

On Saturday, John and I will celebrate 17 years of marriage. Seventeen years is a long time. I love him more every day and can't imagine my life without him. Some of our years together have been hard, but most have been very, very good. He's my best friend and the most amazing father in the world and he makes me laugh every single day. I am richly blessed.

Several years ago, I created The Anniversary Box for us.


It is basically a collection of objects that have special meaning to us. Every year, we add one or two items to this box, items that symbolize something about the past year. Here are a few objects from our box. You'll see the program from John's seminary graduation, the cum laude medal (thank you very much) from my college graduation, a rock (that symbolized a very "hard" year for us), a photo of the first house we ever bought, a Colorado postcard (for the year we moved out west), and other things that mean something near and dear to us. The years that our children were born were extra-special and some of their most cherished baby items are in the box as well. We make some time each year on our anniversary to take each object out and remember special things about our lives as a couple. It's a really great way to mark time and to reflect on the many ways God has blessed us.


And lest you think I'm some smart, crafty chick with loads of time on her hands, let me quickly assure you I AM NOT! I got this idea somewhere (a scrapbooking magazine, I think) and loved it, and intended to do this for a long time, but didn't actually put our Anniversary Box together until four years ago. I suggest starting much sooner than 13 years into your marriage because once I started having children, my brain cells started dying off, and remembering things was a little, um, challenging. To help us keep track of the years, I made a contents guide for our box that I just keep adding to every time we place a new item in it.

I'm a sentimental girl, and this box is full of so many great memories. I hope we can keep adding to it for a long, long time!

8 comments:

Lindsay said...

Hi Mer... Early Happy Anniversary to both you and John. Hope your box is big enough to tide you over to the 50 year mark. I see you as a couple will grow to enjoy the variety of different stages of life and love you have ahed of you.

Leah Belle said...

Great idea, girl! Happy 17th!

Diane@Diane's Place said...

What a neat idea! I have a lot of things like that, keepsakes I mean, but they're not organized or even in the same box together.

"Goodnight, Moon" was my daughter Jessica's favorite book as a toddler. I still remember most of the words to it and she's almost 20 years old. I hope to start the same tradition of reading it every night to my new grandbaby.

Anonymous said...

Hi Meredith!
I saw your comment on Angie's blog, and came over to enjoy yours! I love your anniversary box idea, and laughed at your Tex-Mex story...Mike and I experienced something almost identical in Missouri when we were moving back south from Idaho. We were so excited to be closer to good Tex-Mex again, and then it was slow and horrible and some lady was having a sales party in the same room! Crazy.
Good to know we can communicate when it's not Christmas! I'l have to get me one of these blog things...
Kecia Sandusky

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

Kecia,

My long-lost friend! I saw YOUR comment on Angie's blog, but I couldn't find any way to contact you! So glad you guys are back in Arkansas... and I loved your colorful Christmas picture!!!
Email me sometime...I don't have your address! Mine is in the profile section on my blog.

Meredith

Anonymous said...

Hi girls....Kecia and Meredith....my old OBU pals!

Meredith, I love the anniversary box idea! I wish I had started that years ago. Maybe at 18 it's not too late.

It was great hearing from you and being able to reconnect.

love,
angie
www.lechnersinmoz.blogspot.com

*note to Kecia....get a blog, girl!

Anonymous said...

Meredith,
I'm back again. I was just reading an old post you wrote about your "freakiness". Very funny. But when I read about your germ phobia I immediately thought that you should never come visit us in Mozambique. Just driving down the street here would totally freak you out!!! :-)

angie

debra parker said...

This anniversary box is the sweetest idea I have heard in a long time. I may have to put in to use at my own home.