Let the party last all night!
Stand guard over our celebration.
Psalm 5:11

We got married in Chicago on June 30, 1984.

Since then we’ve done our best to celebrate this important anniversary in a variety of ways, sometimes with others but mostly on our own.

But no matter where we are or what we’re doing, the celebration seems to eventually center around food–what can we say, we like to eat!

A few years ago we marked this milestone, as many couples do, with a fancy meal – just the two of us. But this was like no meal we had ever experienced.

We arrived at the Herbfarm in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains (outside of Seattle) at 6:00p and the meal did not end until well after 11:00p.

No entertainment, no interludes, just five leisurely hours of a nine course meal.

Occasionally we’d take a walk around the gardens in between courses, but most of our time was spent talking about anything and everything that came to mind.

Talk about having time to let your souls catch up! The luxury of time gave us the opportunity to reminisce about the road we’ve traveled, talk about the feelings we experienced but hadn’t expressed, and dream new dreams together.

With our two boys safe at home with a babysitter, we relished the slow pace of the evening. We basked in the time we had with no agenda other than to be together.

Granted, this is not the kind of meal we’d want all the time. It was highly unusual, to say the least. But it underscored for us the value “slow food” brings to our relationship.

A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity.
The order varied for any given year.
–Paul Sweeney

Truth is, a slow approach to food strengthens any relationship. There is something in the nature of eating together that forms a bond between people.

As Carl Honoré points out in his book, In Praise of Slowness, “It is no accident that the word ‘companion’ is derived from the Latin words meaning ‘with bread.’”

Meals become meaningful when we share them with our spouse. Dining together relaxes our spirits and makes us more loving.

It’s what caused famed playwright Oscar Wilde to say, “After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.”

Whether it’s your anniversary this week or not, every marriage can benefit from punctuating our high-speed lives with a shared meal that slows us down and draws us close.

Reflect and Respond

What’s your most memorable wedding anniversary
celebration and why?

Go ahead, tell us in the comments.

Related Resource

product pictureLove Talk Deluxe Bundle

The first steps to improving this single most important factor in any marriage or love relationship are to identify your fear factors and determine your personal communication styles, and then learn how the two of you can best interact.

Bundle includes one softcover Love Talk book, one Workbook for Women, one Workbook for Men, a One Year Love Talk Devotional, and one Love Talk Starters.