This week we celebrated Husband’s birthday. He has low expectations and is generally happy with anything. Since his mid-thirties, we’ve celebrated his birthday the same way: a short hike nearby with friends followed by lunch at our house (which he cooks).
There are a lot of benefits to doing the same thing every year. I copy and paste the same Evite and send it to the same people, usually only updating the kid photo. We’ve got down to a science where we order bagels, what time we leave the house, and our meet-up place for our hike.
Doing the same thing over and over again makes it feel like a tradition. The sameness makes it easier to see the differences, especially in the kids — how many there are and how big they’re getting. It’s the same drawing traced over every year: the lines get darker, the shading more nuanced, the image indelible. This helps the youngest kids remember, but also the adults, who, with each passing year struggle to pinpoint anything that stands out.
For Husband’s pandemic birthday last year, the kids and I went all out planning challenges for him based on his interests (basketball, soccer, crossword puzzles, Animal Crossing). This year I just reminded the kids a few times about Dad’s birthday and hoped for the best. They both made him sweet, hand drawn cards. Husband’s end level of satisfaction: THE SAME.
Photo By: AntMan3001 // CC by 2.0
Aside from birthday festivities, this week we finished Thor: Ragnorak. Our last Marvel movies to watch in this phase are Spiderman: Far From Home and The Incredible Hulk. We are either in a golden age of film and TV or else me and Husband’s taste is converging (probably both). We used to struggle to find stuff to watch together, but nowadays there are more shows than we have time to watch them.