Anniversary Bliss

It’s pretty amazing how a little piece of news can alter the course of your happiness, at least for a little while anyway. Yesterday was a nearly perfect day. For our one-year anniversary, my husband and I loaded up our bicycles and headed to Forsythe Park where we would have a picnic lunch next to a pond. When we drove up, pot-belly, bikini clad women sat shoulder to shoulder with guys who walked around with their t-shirts in their back pockets instead of on their bodies, along with the occasional loud-piped drive by. But other than that, it was easy to tune out the class of the twin cities because I was sitting next to my dear sweet husband of one year, on a quilt, next to the little overflow pond near the Ouachita River, eating a mayonnaise rich ham sandwich that I had seized from my daisy decorated picnic basket.

Our conversation naturally flowed toward how excited we were about finally getting an offer on our house. The constraints of having a house were slowly being untied, and the sense of freedom began to make a way for the things that we really want to do for our lives. My biggest worry at that moment was whether the not-so-healthy lunch would interfere with my energy levels on the bike ride.

We rode around through the neighborhoods that had plush lawns filled with all of my favorite flowers. I especially noticed the buttercups that lay in “bed” waiting for me to pass and be reminded of the buttercups from my childhood. Buttercups only exist in childhood. I’m surprised I saw them. The sweet fragrance of the wisteria also reminded me of my childhood, mainly because my granny used to keep a little paper bag on the back of her toilet that was labeled “wisteria.” I never even knew what they smelled like as a child because the bag of wisteria potpourri had already lost its fragrance. But this day, I was able to match the picture that was on the bag to the genuine wisteria that hung from the tree.

When we arrived home, I suppose we were intoxicated by all of the fragrances, so we decided to take a nap in the bag yard, using the same blanket from our picnic. Our unruly basset hound was determined to interfere with our picturesque setting, establishing her domination by licking us incessantly and leaving little chocolate surprises in the neighbor’s back yard. I swear the temperature had to have risen 6,000 degrees while we were out there. There’s nothing else quite like waking up with sweat in the bend of your knees and your hair welded to your cheekbone.

I then remembered that we had forgotten to do the little tradition where you eat the top of your cake from your wedding. The idea of doing this scared me more than I’m willing to admit, but nevertheless, we took the freezer burned glob of whiteness out of the freezer and stuck a couple of pieces into the microwave. I ate a couple of bites and nearly vomited, and Cody ate probably a little more of it than I did, regretfully.

We were excited to be embarking on a new era of our lives. The day was so carefree. But the news of today sent our morale into a downward spiral. Our real estate agent called and informed us that the man who had given us an offer on our house did not qualify for a loan and would, therefore, be unable to follow through with his plans to buy our house. Cody’s and my spirits plummeted, and it seemed for a moment that nothing good could happen to us. How would the house sell now? I had put the house on the market two other times for months but never any bites, not even one.

I began feeling sorry myself and for us. It had seemed almost too good to be true when the offer was made since the person who made the offer was the first person even to look at the house and then immediately made us an offer for full asking price. Even though it seemed too perfect, we were hopeful and had begun making serious plans for our future. But now, after the few fateful words of my real estate agent, “I have some bad news,” our spirits would make a complete revolution in a matter of seconds.

After wallowing in our pity, I began to think about our time yesterday. There’s nothing that anyone could say or do to take away from our great day. That day, along with our other 365 blissful days, cannot be taken away or foreclosed on. So I want to veer away from my normal cynical attitude and embrace the fact that I have a loving husband, a healthy dog, and food in my belly. I have much to be thankful for.