Today is not only Christmas Day but also my 27th wedding anniversary. How time flies! I can still remember my wedding held in Kuching. And the wedding photos we took at Monica Salon in Kenyalang Park now looked really “outdated” compared to the stylish wedding photos we see today.

My 27th Wedding Anniversary

Wedding anniversaries are the remembrance of the most special day in a person’s life when he or she agreed to share his or her life with that special someone. When two persons exchange marriage vows it is a solemn and sacred rite which binds these two persons in holy matrimony for the rest of their lives. Sadly in our modern society these very same vows are not treated with the respect that they deserve. Nowadays a lot of marriages last only for a short period of time. This sorry state of affairs threatens the very sanctity of marriage institution.  Anyway for those few couples who make it through their first year of marriage they have every right to celebrate their wedding anniversary. In fact every year of a wedding anniversary should be celebrated in a special way.

Candlelit dinners, romantic holidays, gifts and bouquets of flowers are all commonly associated with wedding anniversaries. A carefully planned and executed anniversary will no doubt show your spouse how much you still love him or her

As the old saying goes it’s the thought that counts. The most important thing is to remember the wedding anniversary date itself. Woe betides any spouse who forgets this day as there will be hell to pay later.

Here are the corresponding symbols and gifts for each Anniversary:

1st Wedding Anniversary — paper

2nd Wedding Anniversary — cotton

3rd Wedding Anniversary — leather

4th Wedding Anniversary — flowers or fruits

5th Wedding Anniversary — wood

6th Wedding Anniversary — sugar or candy

7th Wedding Anniversary — wool

8th Wedding Anniversary — bronze

9th Wedding Anniversary — pottery

10th Wedding Anniversary — tin

11th Wedding Anniversary — steel

12th Wedding Anniversary — linen or silk

13th Wedding Anniversary — lace

14th Wedding Anniversary — agate

15th Wedding Anniversary — crystal

16th Wedding Anniversary — silver hollowware, peridot

17th Wedding Anniversary — furniture, watches

18th Wedding Anniversary — porcelain, cat’s-eye

19th Wedding Anniversary — bronze, aquamarine

20th Wedding Anniversary — china

21st Wedding Anniversary — brass or nickel

22nd Wedding Anniversary — copper

23rd Wedding Anniversary — silver plate

24th Wedding Anniversary — musical instruments

25th Wedding Anniversary — silver

26th Wedding Anniversary — original pictures

27th Wedding Anniversary — sculpture

28th Wedding Anniversary — orchids

29th Wedding Anniversary — new furniture

30th Wedding Anniversary — pearl

31st Wedding Anniversary — timepieces

32nd Wedding Anniversary –conveyances (including automobiles)

33rd Wedding Anniversary — amethyst

34th Wedding Anniversary — opal

35th Wedding Anniversary — coral or jade

36th Wedding Anniversary — bone china

37th Wedding Anniversary — alabaster

38th Wedding Anniversary — beryl and tourmaline

39th Wedding Anniversary — lace

40th Wedding Anniversary — ruby or garnet

41st Wedding Anniversary — land

42nd Wedding Anniversary — improved real estate

43rd Wedding Anniversary — trips

44th Wedding Anniversary — groceries

45th Wedding Anniversary — sapphire

50th Wedding Anniversary — gold

55th Wedding Anniversary — emerald or turquoise

60th Wedding Anniversary — diamond

65th Wedding Anniversary — diamond

70th Wedding Anniversary — platinum

75th Wedding Anniversary — diamond

To my wife Jennie, I just wish to say this:

After 27 years in this sacred institution of marriage, I can safely say: There is no one with whom I would rather be institutionalized.

Loving Couple Sculpture

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen, totally forgot about it.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle fascinated by its color and drank all the medicine in the bottle. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child collapsed the mother rushed him to the hospital. He died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how she was going to face her husband. When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.

Question: What were the five words ?

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The husband just said ‘I am with you darling’. The husband’s totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation, compassion and support from the husband. That was what he gave her.

If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.