6-Pack Lovin’

(DISCLAIMER: This is a very gushy entry. I am allowed one of these a month, so just suck it up. Lovey dovey is sometimes just a part of our young, married confessions. Deal with it!)

Champaign, fireworks, diamonds, plaques. These are things that typically signify a major event in life. For me and Chris, it’s a 6-pack and a pizza.

The night we got engaged we were in New York City. Chris proposed on the ice skating rink in Rockefeller Center at 10:30 or 11:00 PM. We immediately called our parents (well, we called them immediately after I regained my balance on ice skates and was able to safely skate off the ice…). Then, we were standing in the middle of Rockefeller Plaza, beaming, in love, and not having the faintest idea what a newly engaged couple was supposed to do. We decided to stop at a deli and bought a 6-pack of beer and went back to our hotel. We ordered a pizza and sat up talking about our wedding and plans for the future.

(This picture is in our hotel room in NY the night we got engaged.   We were still celebrating with our six-pack and I am clearly very excited about my engagement ring.)

The night of our wedding we drove off into the night after our picture perfect wedding and arrived to the honeymoon suite of the Hilton Hotel. The first thing we did? Order a 6-pack of beer from room service and a pizza from Domino’s. We were famished from our wedding and too excited about the honeymoon to sit still. Instead, we sat together on the floor in our hotel bathroom – Chris in his tux, me in my wedding dress – and ate pizza and shared beers, talking about what a great day it was and what a happy future we were surely going to have. (We also talked about how to get Chris’ passport which he had left in Orlando and which we needed for our 7:00 AM flight to the Caribbean, but that’s not the sweet part that I choose to remember…)

And this weekend was no exception. The festivities have been exciting and no doubt one of the biggest professional achievements for Chris so far. And how do we celebrate? With a 6-pack of Coke (we are beer’d out!) and a pizza from Domino’s in our hotel room. This time we watched March Madness on TV and talked about where to put Chris’ Golden Hammer when we get home, the bookshelf or the office.

While for most people, this whole “6-pack and pizza” routine is a complete waste of a romantic situation, for me and Chris it is just the obvious thing to do. And that’s what I love about our relationship. Through even the greatest of times, we still remember what it is that is great about us – our sheer love of being together – and that is how we choose to celebrate. Whether its over a $300 Valentine’s Dinner (a big “oops” that I made this year) or a 6-pack and pizza, we just enjoy each other.

I imagine this might shift a bit when we have children because it’s just awkward (and morally conflicting) to pop open a can of beer to celebrate the first ballet recital. But I have no doubt that no matter how old we get, how much our family changes, or what we are celebrating, we’ll continue to find happiness by simply being together. And who can ask for more from a marriage?