Our Anniversary in Review

We started our married life with a small, perfect wedding and a short honeymoon trip to Gatlinburg. Those few days of romantic tranquility were like the calm before the storm. It all started the day after our honeymoon when Chris lost his job. Talk about regrouping! The last three years have certainly been eventful. We started and closed down a business, each acquired new jobs, had a baby, and moved into a new home. We've lost loved ones and welcomed new family and friends.

I awoke with such anticipation on Tuesday. I don't remember feeling that same feeling on my two previous anniversaries. Our first anniversary was nice; we returned to Gatlinburg, where we had honeymooned. However, last year, we just about overlooked it. I was deep in recovery from the c-section, and we were both enamored with our new little sweetheart. On the day of the anniversary, I don't think we said anymore about it other than wishing each other a "Happy Anniversary." A couple weeks later we "celebrated" by going on our first after-baby date; we went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the IMAX, fun but not exactly romantic.

This year, however, we decided to actually do special; we settled on The Melting Pot. Have you been? While it is expensive, the experience and amazingly delicious food is well worth it. To make the deal a little sweeter, we had received a coupon in the mail and put it to good use.

We ordered the Big Night Out, a four course meal for two. We started with the mouth-watering spinach artichoke cheese. The server brings all of the ingredients to your table and cooks them in a pot in the middle of the table. There was an assortment of apples, breads, vegetables, and tortilla chips to dip in the cheese. After that, we had yummy salads: a Caesar for Chris and the California salad for me. For our entree we ordered the Fondue Feast. In addition to some vegetables and a summer squash ravioli, it comes with an assortment of cubed meats: filet mignon, jerk beef, chicken, pork, and shrimp. We cooked it in another pot in the middle of our table in a delicious Coq au Vin broth. After all of these tasty treats, we were, of course, stuffed. However, there was one more course to go: the dessert. We ordered the Yin and Yang, a mix of dark and white chocolate. With this we had strawberries, two kinds of marshmallows, small cubes of rice crispy treats and brownies, and cheesecake to dip into the chocolate. I cannot adequately describe for you how delectable and decadent this amazing dessert was, but somehow we made room for it. I would highly recommend this restaurant -- with or without the coupon.

Seated in a booth in an intimate little corner where we couldn't see any of the other patrons, we took our meal leisurely and had ample time to talk, really talk like we hadn't been able to do for a while about books and movies and random other little things we had on our minds. Sitting there with my best friend who also just happens to be my husband was absolutely wonderful. I really do enjoy spending time with him, and there is no one with whom I would rather spend an evening. It really was a great anniversary.

I love you, Chris!