Our 27th

We were married 6 weeks after I emigrated.  Because we had not much money, we chose the cheapest day in the week in Breda with regards to marriage license fees and so on, which was a Monday.  It took years and more years before we were able to celebrate an anniversary by eating out.  Even this evening, while we were waiting for our orders to arrive, I recalled those years and felt grateful for all the positive changes so far.  Perhaps not quite using the right words, I asked hubby, 'Do you sometimes realize how far we've come since then?', to which he answered, 'Well, we've moved our dinners from Hotel Brabant to the Mirabelle, if you want to call that progress.'  What a pragmatist!  We had a good laugh but, really, no dinner will take away those difficult days and all the hard work we had to do.  This evening was a conscious effort to keep the tradition of celebrating while honouring the sacrifice of the hubby and the Ellaphant of bygone days who had to give up so much so that the current hubby and Ellaphant could enjoy life a bit more.