Monday was the first wedding anniversary for my husband and me. It was not what we expected a year ago, but it happened.
Last year we talked about how our first anniversary would be free of cancer. We discussed doing a photo shoot to show that we had survived. I clearly remember seeing my dad lean over to help convince my mom that, though we’d love to travel with them, it wasn’t something we wanted to do the weekend of our first anniversary. Despite that, we did expect to get a call from him on the day wishing us a happy anniversary and sharing how proud he was of the love we had for each other, and how pleased he was that I’d found someone who clearly loved and supported me through even (what we thought then were) the worst of times.
Of course, we didn’t get a call from him on our anniversary. I did dream about the night before, but that’s a weak substitute.
He and my mom were madly in love with each other for the entirety of their marriage. As an adult, I could clearly see how lucky and rare it was for me to have such a strong example of devotion and love in my life. Corny as it might sound, there were lessons from their example that influenced me and what I wanted my marriage to be. I knew a good marriage involved daily commitment to each other, love and support from both parties for both parties’ dreams and aspirations, love being shown in everything from doing the dishes to regular date nights, and that communication was key. I know it might sound odd, but facing my first anniversary was strange without one of the two people who most demonstrated to me what a good marriage could be.
However, it turned out to be good. I asked a group of friends for some prayers and vibes to help me with my grief and anger (yes, the return of cancer brings with it a lot of anger) so that even though I’m still in some physical pain (mostly controlled by meds, but still limiting me to walking not even a full block), I could find a way to laugh and still celebrate.
Well, we ended up celebrating by turning my doctor-prescribed walk into an anniversary selfie-shoot, complete with my wedding parasol (though, without any makeup because that just seemed exhausting). The process made us laugh and relax, which was priceless. Looking at the photos to share with friends and family on Facebook, made me reflect on the good of this year. Yes, it’s been an objectively pretty awful year. Between cancer pt 1, losing my dad, and cancer pt 2 — the huge amounts of grief and anger are totally understandable. However, they don’t eliminate the good. They can’t erase the reasons to smile. We have our love and we have the support of so many friends and family. We have our weird senses of humor that make us laugh.
Sometimes this means that the same hour includes crying and laughing (both of which, by the way, are painful AF for an abdomen that was vertically sliced open). It means that if you look closely at the photos, you can see that we’re exhausted and that I recently had tears in my eyes. It always means that we have each other.
And maybe that’s incredibly corny, but on the first anniversary of our wedding and every single other day, there is no one else I want at my side,, helping carrying my grief and anger baggage, as I face the cancerous road ahead.
