The Metaversary
On Saturday, Chris and I celebrated 10 years together. No, it was not our wedding anniversary; that was in May. This is our Metaversary. Met-a-what? Yes, we still celebrate the day that we met. In fact, I think we celebrate it bigger and better than we do our wedding anniversary. Veteran’s Day has changed our lives in many ways, but the one in 1996 started it all.
Go ahead. Laugh. Tell us how sickeningly cute we are. I don’t care. I’m totally fine with the thought that we will be ‘that’ cute couple that still holds hands when we are 80 years old.
Friday night, Monica and Wayne were sweet enough to let the kids have a sleepover with John and Alex so we could have the entire evening to ourselves. We knew we wanted to go to dinner, but we wanted to get away from our usual fare. After emailing a few friends that live in Norfolk/Virginia Beach, we took Pat’s suggestion and went to Magnolia Steak. It was the perfect idea. Nestled in the historic part of Norfolk, it was definitely different than what we normally get here. And much nicer than the restaurants we get to visit with the kids.
When our waiter first came to the table, we told him we were having a night away from the kids, and that we wanted to prolong our dinner as long as possible. He gave us our drinks, and we ordered the most FABULOUS appetizer EVER. It was goat cheese w/ roasted red peppers and an olive puree, served on a bed of mixed greens with slices of toast. YUUUUUMMMM. I would drive back there again just to have that appetizer for a meal. Seriously. Then we took a little break from eating; Chris had a beer and I had a glass of reisling. One of the few wines that I can actually drink. Then our meals came. Steak. It’s been too long since we’ve had good steak. Chris had a ribeye with some sort of molasses glaze, mine was a tenderloin. It was a wee bit overdone, sadly, but still quite good. And the twice-baked potatoes and carrots with carraway seeds more than made up for it.
After nearly two hours of dining, we even ordered desert. German Chocolate PIE. Our sweet waiter brought it to us and said it was on the house because of our special occasion. How did he know?? We hadn’t told him it was our metaversary. He said any night away from the kids is a special occasion. Now THAT is a good waiter. 
So after a wonderful meal came the great part. There are so many little things in our life that have such meaning. Like God sends little reminders to us that we really are meant to be together. This one was the bill. Something so insignificant turned into a powerful message. The bill was $90.04 (hey, it was a big meal). I’m always the one that does the tip calculating. Chris likes to make everything an even dollar amount, so I said, “Make the tip $19.96″. That’s just what I had calculated it to be. No big, right? And Chris says, “That was a good year”. Suddenly we looked at each other. Our tip had calculated out to be the exact year of the one we were celebrating that very evening. 1996. A huge smile came upon my face. Yes, that MUST be the tip amount. Yet another little sign in our life.
1996 sure was a good year. And I’ve had ten wonderful ones since. Thank you Hunny Bunny. I love you.
Love, Sweetness
