three years

On Wednesday, Suzy and I celebrated our third anniversary. And if you could see me right now, celebrated would be in air quotes.

The day started early. After a night of little sleep (thanks, baby-crying-for-what-seems-like-no-reason), Suzy was trying to clean our house for an appraisal and finish packing, while I was squeezing in a half-day at work that would end by 11:00 a.m. (and therefore begin at 7:00 a.m.). Even our seven-month-old needed some coffee...

When I got home it was a mad scramble to load the car and get to the airport. Once there, we had to stuff down a "fresh made" microwave pizza and a "chargrilled" microwave burger in the terminal before our plane boarded. (I really wish I had been able to take pictures of these things. They looked horrible. But better than the e-coli-laced chicken salad sandwiches, I suppose...)

We landed in Charlotte for an hour and a half layover, and as we walked to the gate for our connecting flight, I saw this heavenly beacon:

I went to the original Bad Daddy's Burger Bar a couple of years ago, and I still talk about the burger I ate there. In fact, as we came upon it in the airport concourse, I said to Suzy, "I think that's the place I had the burger." Not only did she know what I was talking about, she described it almost verbatim...

Sam I Am (get it..."green eggs and ham"?)

I won't even try to begin to describe it. You really just have to taste one. So the next time you're in Charlotte (or in Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, concourse C), check it out. You can just thank me now.

But here's the tragedy in all of this - I was still full from the nuked burger at the Greenville airport! So we passed on Bad Daddy's and instead ended up sitting in an airport with a fussy seven-month-old, tired, gassy (the microwave burger/pizza didn't sit too well), sharing a Cinnabon, eating off the top of our luggage. Pretty classy, huh?

The third anniversary is the "pastry" anniversary, right?

I was reminded, however, that it doesn't really matter as much what you're eating as it does with whom you are eating. Near the beginning of our relationship, Suzy and I used to eat Chinese takeout on the floor of my apartment bedroom (because the only other place to sit was my one desk chair). Now, that's one of my favorite memories of us. Here's hoping that our third anniversary will be another of those memories.

We did finally make it to NJ, and had a great three days eating our way through north Jersey and NYC. More about that soon...

What about y'all? Do you have any memorable anniversary meals (good or bad)?