March 2 was a big day for us, as it’s our anniversary date. And this year was the big 7. This is meaningful for a few reasons. First, it’s the year of copper and wool (for anniversary gifts). As one website said, “these two elements may seem diametrically opposed, but they have one thing in common: warmth—wool is an insulator of warmth and copper is a conductor of heat. Just like that which radiates through your relationship.” Aw, shucks. Isn’t that sweet? Before you ask, we haven’t gotten any gifts for each other, opting instead to keep our eyes on the lookout together for something fitting of the year.

The second meaningful reason for Year #7 is it’s the seven-year itch anniversary. You know – that infamous time when couples re-evaluate their relationship. As Psychology Today notes, it’s when “romantic partners experience turbulence and a potential point-of-reckoning … Viewed as a critical juncture, the seven-year itch is defined as a time when couples re-evaluate: They either realize that their relationship isn’t working, or they feel deeply satisfied and committed to their relationship.” Now, whether this itch is a real thing or not, we do believe it’s a good time to evaluate things and decide whether it’s “worth” sticking together or not.

Now, this might seem overly practical or cold, but we’re talking about two people burned before by marriage. We have talked a lot about how marriage would be ‘better’ if it had some expiration dates that couples had to purposefully consider and renew. So, rather than just trudging through a decades-long marriage of convenience, you re-establish and reaffirm that you want to be in the marriage together. Be actual participants and not just coast along. And, as it turns out, when we’ve talked about this notion in the past, we always said that the 7-year mark seems like a good point to re-evaluate.

And so, we did just that. We talked about the ups and downs we’ve had. We considered the highs and lows that have punctuated our relationship. And we both said that we still want in. We are better with each other than without, and there’s nobody else we’d rather go through the hardships and celebrations with than each other. We’re all in, and if there were a formal means of “re-upping” then we’d do it. With that, we decided to renew our vows. Yep, most couples choose to renew vows after closer to 50 years of marriage and we did it on Year 7. And we’ll do it again (assuming we’re still both in…) at Year 14.

Insignia offered a lovely little package for us to renew our vows. We got to pick a cake and we chose chocolate with caramel frosting. It was as delicious as it was beautiful.

The General Manager – Ludmila – was the officiant. She’s one of our favorite people on the ship (for many reasons) and so getting to have her be a part of this occasion was great.

We exchanged vows – John even had his typed up and printed out! – had the standard “you may kiss the bride” moment.

Attendees included a lot of the officers on the ship, the cruise director Ray, the social hostess Shannon, and most importantly Matthew (who held my flowers during the ceremony – aww).

The ship also arranged for the string quartet to come and play for us. They even learned the Ed Sheeran song, “Thinking Out Loud” just for our occasion. It was quite lovely.

After the ceremony, we all chatted, had some wine, and just enjoyed some music by the quartet. Then John and I went with Shannon for some quick photos elsewhere on the ship. We ran into our favorite waiter/bar staff person – Shane – along the way.

And here’s a photo of us on the stairs. Happy couple. 😊

After the photos we went back to the library (where the ceremony had taken place) to top off our wine glasses and found some of the officers still there enjoying the champagne and a little deserved down time. Somehow, and we can’t tell you how, the conversation led to us having a plank competition. I mean, what a perfect ending to the vow renewal, right? Ludmila and myself on one side (I’m cracking up as she’s grumbling because it was unclear if anybody remembered to time us) and John and Julio on the other. A fun ending to a lovely event.

At this point, the ceremony was over. We had a fantastic dinner – just the two of us – at Toscana (the Italian specialty restaurant) to round out the evening.

Love…