Happy Anniversary

Lana and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary. We had planned a special dinner for all of us and a few other special activities. But this will all have to wait a week or so as the vagaries of family life have intervened in our plans.
Eric has some stomach bug which has kept him close to the toilet for the last few days but he was the only one and no one else looked off colour. Then it stormed beautifully yesterday and all the children went playing in the rain. Unfortunately Ariel slipped and twisted her ankle so we had to rush out into the rain and bring her in and tend to her injuries. She is not as small as she used to be!
Then last night Clare came into our bedroom at 2am and said she wasn't feeling well.
"Go to the toilet!" we instantly instructed her and I leapt out of bed and carried her in the right direction. Almost! She exploded about 1 foot in front of the toilet. When she had finished we washed her up and settled her back into her bed. I cleaned up the toilet and parts of the bathroom. Lana is still tired as Martin is getting more teeth and not sleeping well.
At 3am Clare woke up again and didn't even make it out of her bed. So this time Lana and I both got up, replacing bedding and settling Clare down. At 4:30 am she once more awoke, but this time used the bowl we had given her and Lana tended to her. I slept through this one!
Eric helped in the last two episodes, and Ariel woke up and felt bad because she couldn't get up and help out.
"Can I do anything?" she asked in a pitiful voice,
"You can cheer us on" suggested Eric.
So today is the day we had planned to celebrate our Anniversary, the closest Sunday. And we can't even go to Mass without risking the spread of our stomach bug.
This may sound like a disaster story looking for sympathy but it isn't. After 18 years we do not have firm plans and have learned how to "go with the flow". The selfishness we both had when we married has slowly been weaned out by family shared experiences:

For better or worse,
Richer or poorer,
In sickness and health,
Until death do I part.
I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

That was the deal. And once we really understood that love is really a matter of intellect and will more than just a feeling, life is good. Reading the pages of our adventures on this blog gives you a flavour of family life, but there are so many good things that still get left out of our memoirs. The big smile Rose and Clare give us in the morning, the assistance and companionship of all the children, the joys we all share when any of the children achieve a milestone - crawling, walking, talking, test scores, whatever.
So for us, this IS a happy anniversary.