I recently celebrated my first, first anniversary in dating history. Which is a much bigger deal to me than it probably should be.

I have a torrid romantic history, a handful of people I formed relationships with in high school, most of which ended amicably enough that running into these individuals in a store wouldn’t be unbearable and I legitimately hope they find immense success in life. Of course, there are one or two who I would rather not see on television as national heroes or billionaires with trophy wives, but that’s normal. What seems odd to me is that I forget some of the people I “dated”. You know, you make that list in your head, Tom, Jack, Ben…. I always forget a few. It makes me feel bad that these people I once had butterflies for don’t even exist in my memory.
Anyway, back to the present day. My current boyfriend is my first relationship since 11th grade, and amazingly within the year we’ve spent together we haven’t had any real problems. He chalks it up to our maturity in handling minor disagreements and confronting little things with respect and understanding. I think it’s because we’re awesome.
But this big 0-1 anniversary made me nervous. What does one do to commemorate such a thing? Being the indecisive person that I am, I consulted my friends and family, comparing notes as to what they did on similar occasions. Recreating our first date, a nice dinner, and “I don’t know” were the majority of the suggestions. So, without much help from the outside, Boyfriend and I were left to come up with our own itinerary. After reviewing our options, minimal as they are for two people with limited time and budget, we decided to just have a simple night out. We ended up doing dinner and a movie and some champagne, cuddling and conversation. And it was perfect. Just being together and knowing that we are happy in each other’s company was enough commemoration. Besides, as Boyfriend says, “We’ve got a lot more anniversaries ahead of us.”