the anniversary curse

On our anniversary, Kent surprised me by coming home from work early.
He had the flu.

So it wasn't much of a fun anniversary for either of us. We decided to make up for it by going on a little trip to Austin this weekend.

Unfortunately, our anniversary trips seem to have a sort of curse. A traveling curse.

When we went to Paris for our honeymoon, our luggage was lost for almost the whole week we were there. It was such an adventure to navigate a foreign country as newlyweds to find things like hair gel and socks.
When we went on our anniversary trip last year, I locked the keys in the land cruiser that we were borrowing from my uncle-luckily the back window had been broken by someone else a few days earlier and all I had to do was tear through the plastic and crawl inside, but it was pouring rain and we were at the airport and it was a bit of a challenge. Very funny, yes. I chuckle every time I see the picture of the mud-smeared plastic window we repaired with duct tape. I can't help but remember squirming through that little slit while Kent stood in the pouring rain keeping watch for any airport security guards or police. (It wasn't our car, after all, and we would have had a hard time explaining that one.)

But we wanted to do something even more exciting for our anniversary this time.
This year, we tossed an 8-foot piece of plywood onto the freeway.

Let me back up a little and give you the recipe for our most exciting anniversary trip. In case you ever want to recreate it yourself.

The Andersen's Famous Anniversary Delight
Begin with
1 uneventful drive to Austin
1 awesome hotel room
1 happy baby boy
2 trips to IKEA (Just so you know, I have discovered my deep and abiding love for this store.)
1 1/2 hours spent picking out all the specifications for a perfect kitchen island
2 IKEA workers to help us stuff all the boxes into our little car
1 particular box that was too big to fit in the car
a couple handfuls of twine and a few knots to secure that box to the top of the car
1 dinner of barbecue from Rudy's
2 IBC drinks (root beer and creme soda)
1 television with cable
1 very relaxing night in the hotel

Stir together gently and let sit overnight.

Then add:
1 last morning trip to IKEA
15 minutes of driving before stopping for lunch

(Nicholas attempted to eat the VW symbol. He was hungry, too!)

Continue for 45 minutes while slowly adding:
75 mph
5 strands of broken twine
1 very large piece of plywood no longer on top of our car

In a separate mixing bowl, combine:
3 calls to the police department
1 police car coming to stop traffic so we could drag the piece out of the left lane
1 grouchy police officer who offers no help but stands with his arms folded while you struggle with said plywood
Zero pieces of usable twine and a section of kitchen island that was simply too large to fit into our car

Oh, and 1 screaming baby. Screaming.

To solve, mix 1 very resourceful husband, 1 blessed pacifier, a slow drive off the freeway, 20 minutes in the McDonald's parking lot, 4 phone calls to parents, and a nearby Home Depot.
Continue on with lots of praying, slow driving, stopping every five miles, and adding approximately 4 hours to the drive, or until the edges are golden brown.

Serve and enjoy in 2 years, when it becomes really funny.

Surprisingly, only the corner of the board was really damaged, and as it was two feet too long for our island, we're thinking we can just trim that part off. Or so we hope.

At least he was happy while we retied the piece down at Home Depot.

Thanks to Kent's skills with twine and nylon straps, we eventually made it home, and we spent lots of time taking turns saying "Well at least it wasn't..." and "It could have been worse if..."

And while we were sitting in the emergency lane with a crying baby in the backseat waiting for the police car, I was really glad that I was sitting next to my best friend, because I knew that we would be able to laugh about all of this when it was all over and we were home.

I was wrong.
We started laughing about it when we were still 25 miles away from home.

And that is why I love my husband. Life with Kent is never sad for very long.
Happy Anniversary, Kent!

Here's to staying at home next year!