On Sunday, as fans of football and fans of commercials gather round the TV, my husband will be sitting with me at a devastatingly romantic restaurant. Our reservation is at 8pm, smack-dab in the middle of the game, and admittedly, this was not his first choice of plans. But before you judge me as a demanding, insensitive wife, I should explain: It's our anniversary. Our first anniversary.
We knew last year this would be an issue. When we were deciding on wedding date, I suggested February 5 because it wasn't going to be a busy traveling weekend and we both agreed that we wanted a winter wedding. (It would be in Houston, and a sweaty bride in a white dress taking pictures outdoors was not an option.) My husband's immediate response to this date: "But wait, Babe, the next day is the Super Bowl. We need to think about this." Josh has been a freelance photographer for Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine and has actually been on the field for a Super Bowl, so I understood that this was a big deal for him. And yet I wasn't going to let a football game -- even the football game -- get in the way. We went ahead with that plan, he watched the game at my parents' house the next day and life was (and is) beautiful.
This year, as the season went along, I started to realize that Super Bowl might actually continue to be a threat. Not only would it be the same weekend this year, it would be the same day. Josh is a huge Houston Texans fan, so when they made the playoffs for the first time, I decided to be the Cool Newlywed Wife and make a deal with him: If his team made it to the Super Bowl, we could celebrate the day before. I hate to admit this, but I then secretly rooted for the other team -- the team whose name I couldn't tell you but that (thank goodness) -- ultimately won.
Before you start throwing rotten tomatoes, know that I make my fair share of sacrifices for my husband. Every weekday, I get up before 6:30 am to take the dog out because Josh has trouble sleeping. Plus, he gets back/foot rubs almost any time he because I know that his photo work is very physical and requires lots of strength.
I understand that this is just our first anniversary and there will be many more, but to me, this is a milestone worth celebrating. Just ask Kim Kardashian. Josh and I both agree that marriage is about compromise and wanting to make each other happy. (Gwyneth Paltrow agrees too, as we learned this week.) In Josh's ideal world, we would watch the game while enjoying pizza and beer with our buddies. In mine, we would watch no football and do what many women apparently would prefer to do on Super Bowl Sunday. But he wanted me to be happy so he agreed to our dinner reservation. And I wanted to make him happy so I agreed to get to the restaurant early and watch the game for 90 minutes at the bar. Besides, the black leather dress I plan on wearing Sunday night trumps Giants uniform spandex any day of the week.
The voyeur in me would really love to read about her husband's response to all this.