An evening with Denzel

Yesterday, my wife and I celebrated our 11th year of marriage, although celebrated is a bit of an exaggeration. With Cedar Allergy Season (Yes, a Proper Noun) in full swing, my wife has been putting in long hours at the Asthma and Allergy clinic she works for. So if you consider her leaving the house at 6:30am, working straight through lunch, and returning home around 6pm, all while I ran around town getting her oil changed (on her car that is) and running errands, then celebrate it we did.

Even my two children, who perhaps didn't realize that our spending weekdays together was almost over, even though I reminded them repeatedly, wanted to spend the day at their grandmother and recently-retired grandfather's house. This meant I spent most of my anniversary alone, at home--just me and Guitar Hero III.

Later in the evening, I met my wife, the kids, and her parents for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Having snacked on high-carb, Guitar Hero food all day long, I wasn't very hungry, so I just sat at the table watching everyone else eat their enchiladas, tacos, chalupas, rice, beans, chips, tortillas, salsa, and queso while chopping on an occasional ice cube. After we got the leftovers put away in the take-home boxes and refusing the waiter's invitation for dessert (I guess he thought we might want to stuff some sopapillas in our doggie bag with the leftover enchilada), my in-laws were kind enough to pick up the tab--a nice anniversary gift.

The best anniversary gift they gave us, however, came later in the evening when they offered to keep both of our kids (on the condition that they give them back today), so my wife and I were able to go back home and have a quiet evening to ourselves. Well, we decided to share our evening with Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning who starred in "Man on Fire." The four of us spent two and a half hours together in a riveting, glued-to-our-seats saga of redemption and revenge--perfect motifs for 11 years of marriage.

After the movie, we kept the inappropriate themes going by watching an episode of "Intervention" on A&E on Demand. After watching a former NBA star lose his wife, his two daughters, and his life to his heroin addiction, we were really appreciative of what we have and how we have been able to stay away from heroin for 11 blissful years.

The themes of our programming all came full circle as we were reminded of the fragility of life, the unconditional love and pure innocence of children, and how we are making wise financial decisions by deciding to buy food, clothing, and shelter with our earnings, rather than bodyguards and crack-cocaine.

Yep, it turned out to be a rather nice anniversary after all.