My Anniversary

The memories now cherished alone.

- Arunamohan Mantrala

It's my anniversary today. Even though these memories keep coming every day, today it feels like they are just taking me into a shell where all these memories are playing one after the other continuously. No work seems important. I do not want to give attention to anyone, including my son. I have so many memories around my anniversary. Each is different from the other. Some are happy, some are sad, and some are surprising. Now that I do not have my life partner to celebrate my anniversary, all these memories are the only ways to keep my husband with me.

On one such anniversary, we were going through a tough phase. We were struggling financially, so celebrating seemed impossible. Every year, I used to buy a collectible porcelain doll of a couple. I could not even buy that. I was incredibly sad, but somehow at the last moment, I felt I could manage buying a small one. I wanted to go out and buy it before my husband returned from the office. My in-laws never remembered our anniversary, so they did not like the idea of me going out as they felt that I have not completed all the work in the house. I told them I would be back in an hour. It was going to be almost 7:30.