Kelli McGraw

A very self indulgent blog post today to share that today/Sunday was my first wedding anniversary 🙂

A lovely time was had by all – Mr K. and I like to celebrate things over whole weekends, giving us more excuses to eat out!  After a lazy day shopping we ended up in Newtown for dinner on Saturday night.  We had no reservations, and had braced for the dreaded King Street wander…eventually found a great restaurant called Twelve.  They were full, but offered to call back in 15 minutes when a table was free – how nice!  We had a rocket, parmesan and pear salad, and while hubby had a rump steak I had fig, basil and chilli linguine.  So delicious!  I highly recommend Twelve to anyone living in Sydney – it’s at the Marly-end of King Street, in between the Vintage Cellars (a lovely New Zealand Pinot Noir from there, thanks very much) and the 7 Eleven, across from Burgerlicious.

We thought we’d go for a drive down to the Rocks and under the bridge, but alas twas ANZAC day and much revelry had gotten the roads closed…so we ended up going for a very late coffee at Badde Manors in Glebe, where we were soothed by some jazz music and a very 50s feel.  Two lattes and some carrot cake later, and the it was home for us.

Saturday celebrations really set us up well for a stress-free real-Anniversary on Sunday.  Day consisted of a sleep in, a big bacon and egg breakfast, a little bit of laundry and a lot of general lazing around.  A perfect day for someone on the brink of returning to school next week – one last holiday day.  We were reliably informed that the gift de choix for first anniversaries is paper, and bought tickets to see The Grates on 8th May as a present to each other. So…more anniversary celebrations in two weeks 🙂

And…my thoughts on being married, one year on?  Other than slightly amused at having a ‘first’ anniversary, after being together for 15 years 😉  Rather than try to find words for my own philosophy, I suggest that now more than ever I see the value of both of the following metaphors, taken from the readings we chose for our wedding ceremony.  The first is from a poem by Kahlil Gibran:

…Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping,
And stand together, yet not too near together,
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in shadow.

The tree metaphor a little different in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres :

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.