milestone

Ju-Lyn, ,
Celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary

Like my dear BlogFriend, Laurie at Notes from the Hinterland, we like to celebrate early & often when it comes to special occasions in our household.

We started celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary (14th December 1996) at the very start of the month.

Pre-Covid, we would have had a Mass at church to renew our vows & a party after. But since we are still in self-imposed isolation from face-to-face social contact, we had to be creative in how we would mark this occasion.

Commemorative Gift

Silver is meant to be the gift for this milestone; we decided to go with ceramic. Loving Husband began this conversation in November, but it was only when we visited the Singapore Festival of Clay that we knew what our gift would be.

We went to the festival marketplace to visit our talented friend at Pouting Pots and fell in love with her Positivity Plates (both are shown in the Feature Photo).

We thought this pair would be appropriate as an anniversary gift to each other as they reflect the spirit of things we hold dear: nature (leaf imprint), words (Hope, Love, and we custom ordered Peace & Joy), love (don’t they look heart-shaped?).

Gifting Goodies

There are couples in Marriage Encounter who have mentored and inspired us through the last 15 years we’ve served in this apostolate. Since we couldn’t have a party, we decided we would bring them various goodies either baked in our kitchen or taken out from cafes/hawkers we support.

We started last week, and will likely do so for the rest of the month. We ring their doorbell, relish short, appropriately distanced conversations, enjoy their smiles, leave the goodies, and off we go. This is followed with text messages of congratulations and thanks. Not quite the same as an in-person party, but lots of love exchanged.

Attending Mass

Not a dedicated anniversary mass but a daily mass at our parish of St Ignatius. It’s been almost 2 years since we stepped into a church. It will be a special time for us on the 14th, the day of our anniversary.

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Came across this song by Singaporean songwriters & singers; thought it rather appropriate for the occasion, although perhaps a little more current & hip than my usual musical leanings:

Let this be for you a toast
Celebrating you the most
Who the hell am I even, when you're gone?
...
When I'm old and I'm gray
Will this be how it all stays?
Don't know what I can do
You might just feel the same too
But if it all came crashing down tonight
At least I had you in my life

excerpt from At least I Had You (2021), duet by Gentle Bones & JJ Lin

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Reading your Joyful Posts brings me to my happy place. I hope having them in one place makes it easier for you to find when you need a bit of happy therapy, too.

If you would like to join in Happy Place, Happy Space, ping back to this post and I will include you next week.

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This post is my contribution to Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer

Published by Ju-Lyn

A Mostly-Vegetarian living, running & eating her way through Singapore.

59 Comments

  2. Happy blessed anniversary!!! (Better late than never. Ahem. Cough cough.) The ceramic leaf imprints are beautiful! Giving gifts to your marriage encounter people is incredibly sweet! I’m so sorry you haven’t gotten to go inside for mass for two years!! We get to do daily mass indoors because of the lower attendance, but our parish only does Sunday mass outdoors. It’s going to be really cold today. (And doing this is supposed to keep us well?!) Sorry, mini rant. Congrats to the two of you for building a beautiful love and family! And randomly, out of curiosity, has your Marriage Encounter group seen or considered utilizing 101 Tips for a Happier Marriage in their ministry? Have to ask! ;P

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    1. Never too late to receive well-wishes Betsy! Thank you

      I love how every parish is coping so creatively with restrictions and keeping people safe. How do they seat everyone for Sunday mass outdoors?!!!!

      What a fabulous idea … we are always looking out for new & creative ways to stimulate dialogue amongst the couples. I will certainly bring 101 Tips into the mix – thank you, my friend!

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      1. There’s a large grassy area as well as a cement courtyard where they set up the altar. They also put up some shade. Today it’s raining so they let us have mass indoors! Christmas miracle! 🙂

        Though it’s probably already Sunday where you are, Merry Christmas again, my far away friend!

        I hope you enjoy the 101 Tips. Should be something in there for everyone to learn a little something from. 🙂

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          1. Literally what we said as we got to go inside for the first indoor Sunday mass in more than a year. Yes, it was raining Saturday, so that made sense to go indoors. But the next day it wasn’t raining, but they still let us in! Apparently the pastor cares about our health after all–as in not wanting us to sit outside in the cold!

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              1. Yes. There is some freedom in having the decision-making done for you. But when you’ve already made a decision, but then it’s taken from you… 😦 Fortunately, we felt the powers that be worked in our favor this time.

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  7. I send you a joyous celebration of your 25 years of marriage! I love your exchange of beautiful and meaningful ceramic gifts and your generosity in visiting your Marriage Encounter couples. Treats and a lovely example! I’m also happy you will attend Mass tomorrow. That will be especially meaningful after a long absence. Blessings for the next 25 years!

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    1. We gratefully accept your blessing!
      It was a precious time at mass – the familiarity & comfort of the liturgy. It didn’t feel as strange as we’d thought it might.

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  11. Happy 25th Anniversary! You two are so cute together and obviously in love. I’m sorry you can’t have the vow renewal, but sounds like you are making it a very special anniversary indeed.

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  17. Happy 25th anniversary! The Positivity plates are beautiful and a meaningful gift to each other. Thank you for the mention and for linking up with #weekendcoffeeshare.

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