I've become difficult to buy for!

Yesterday, seven years ago, Neil and I were over in California, getting married. The years have flown by and yet, when I think of all the changes that have happened, all the houses we have lived in, and the living here, living abroad, living here we have done, it's impossible to see how we could have fitted it all in without the passage of those years.

We don't go overboard on gifts at anniversary times, although it is an unwritten law that there has to be a card on the breakfast counter if he wants to be able to return home for dinner. My husband is not good at remembering dates. He usually needs a clue, and sometimes the devil in me decides not to give him any clues, just to see if he can drag up from the depths of his mind, that there is something for him to remember.

With everything that has been happening lately, our anniversary even crept up on me without a lot of notice. In the US it was Labour Day, or should that be Labor Day. We especially chose the Labor Day weekend as it would mean we could spend more time with our friends in America before they needed to return to work, but in the UK it is not a holiday date so we didn't serve as a reminder.

So, whether deliberately or not, Neil did not get any subtle (or otherwise) hints from me about the upcoming anniversary.

Yet, I did get a card yesterday and a gift, although I have now become (apparently) officially difficult to buy for. A basic interpretation of that is, now I have cut saturated fat out of my diet he can no longer dash into the shops and buy the most expensive box of chocolates anymore.

But, ever the quick thinker, and knowing I have a sweet tooth, he knows I can have Jelly Babies and I am now the proud owner of a rather large box of Jelly Babies which will take me up to Christmas to eat. 

So, he has managed another year without disgracing himself by forgetting our Anniversary. 

Oh, how did he manage it? A very good friend of ours who came with us to California for the wedding never forgets to send us a card, a couple of days early to avoid being late - and Neil had picked up the post that day. There was the subtle hint he needed with time to dash out an buy the very necessary card for a further year of married bliss!

Happy Anniversary Darling.