Party Time!

Amazewife and I destroyed the last of our debt just in time for our tenth wedding anniversary.

Yay, marriage!

I didn't have a ring for my wife when I proposed. I really didn't have much at all when I proposed. It was a cold night outside the Logan temple when I did and I had about $200 to my name.

Unlike the one and only Derek Oliver that dressed up as Superman. And got Superman's help to propose. (Congrats, Derek.)

But my post isn't about Derek. It is about Amazewife and I. She's A and I'm B, so why don't you just C your way out of this conversation, Derek? Go scare away the porcupines from your yard before your dog bites one.

Inside joke.

Anywho, our anniversary isn't just one day out of the year. It is part of what I call Mega Week. It is clustered like another topping on a delicious, terrifying, three-layer cake made of it, Mother's day and her birthday.

Due to that close proximity, gift buying and delivery can become quite the ordeal. Not this time. (SPOILER ALERT: I dropped the ball on decorations.) This time, I would do the following:

1. Purchase her a box of 24 bags of Pepperidge Farm Dark Chocolate Milano cookies.
2. Treat her to a very delicious, expensive meal at one of Omaha's fine dineries.
3. Get her a hotel room in which she can do those things that are appropriate for married women her age. (e.g. jump on the bed and watch the Late Show while keeping tabs on one dumpster fire after another on Twitter.)
4. Buy her a ring.

So I did.

It's OK to celebrate!

I know a guy. He's a Pepperidge Farm distributor that knows how to get things. So I bought her a box full of bags of Dark Chocolate Milano cookies.

Then I bought her an expensive ring. It wasn't as expensive as I would have liked, not by several factors of 10. But it was expensive. And beautiful. And she loves it.

Then I took her to the Boiler Room here in Omaha, where they personalized our menu and knocked our socks off with some killer food and service.

She had the grilled asparagus, duck breast, some of a cheese plate and the blueberry crisp. I had the (life changing) yellowfin tuna crudo, the wagyu beef (not pictured here), some of that cheese plate and the cardamom panna cotta. Worth every penny.

Then after that, in an interesting twist of fate, I got her a room at the CenturyLink Hilton. You may remember that hotel from the post where I fell. It was the one hotel I delivered to the most often by far.

We checked in, checked out the pool, then went to the room wherein jumping on the bed, watching the Late Show and monitoring Twitter dumpster fires were all comfortably accommodated.

Why is this worth sharing?

We did all of the things and purchased all of the things in order to celebrate not only being debt free, but to celebrate our eternal marriage and our friendship. We enjoyed very expensive (for us) activities that, well, weren't expensive (for us) anymore. We could, because we budgeted and planned, and disciplined and spent with gladness and thanksgiving.

Why tell you this? Because I want you to think ahead. Just take a second, and think ahead. Envision being out of debt, no matter how hard or far-fetched that idea might seem.

What are you doing at that far off place? How are you celebrating?

I promise you, if you stick to the baby steps, you will have that $1,000 in the bank. Then you will pay down that debt. Then you will buy that dinner or that ring or that trip or that nine gallons of mustard you always wanted from Sam's. Then you will save for yourself and your family and will change your family tree. I promise you, you will. Because we are.