Have a Little Faith

Anniversaries. He was not used to having to remember them or having a reason to. His wife had an excellent memory and remembered them all. 6th of April, the anniversary of them meeting which was two days before her birthday. 16th of April, their first kiss. Then there was their wedding anniversary. He had a notebook where he had started writing all these dates down.

It helped that his mother was a hopeless romantic. When trying to think of a gift for his wife for their first anniversary, his mother had informed it that traditionally that was a paper anniversary. Which seems to be so little a gift to give the woman who had helped him find his purpose.

On his travels he had heard of the art of origami. Folding paper to resemble animals or tiny gift boxes amongst other things. There was one story that folding 1000 cranes would grant the receiver of the cranes one wish. It would be a creative gift for his wife but he would need to begin folding immediately. He would find something else just in case he ran out of time.

Penelope got so much joy out of giving Colin gifts, almost as much as he enjoyed spoiling her. Any excuse she could find or invent to celebrate her husband, she would grab. They were coming up to their first wedding anniversary.

It had been an incredible year, which had included the birth of their son. She had never felt more loved. Her mother was enjoying being a grandmother and she did it well. It was with no resentment that Penelope saw that Portia was a better grandmother than she had been a mother. Although their relationship had taken a turn for the better once she and Colin had gotten married and the secrets on both sides were revealed.

She had put a lot of thought into their anniversary dinner and she had gotten Colin a new journal with his name embossed on it to write his next novel. Life was busy what with her column, her son, her friendship with Eloise and Genevieve and her improved relationship with both her mother and sisters. Only in her dreams had she thought this would be possible.

It had crossed her mind that Colin might not remember their anniversary since he was busy writing his next novel. Every time she went looking for him lately, he was locked in his study. She would be offended if she wasn't looking forward to reading it so much. She couldn't complain seeing as Colin was constantly gifting her small items just because he wanted to.

The day of their anniversary arrived and their son chose to wake his mother at the crack of dawn. Still half asleep Penelope swung her legs out of their bed and went to feed their son. He had a cough the night before so had moved the crib into their room for the night. She had been fast asleep when Colin had come to bed last night. As she made her way to the crib she stepped on something. Reaching down and picking up what felt like folded paper and put it on a nearby side table before lighting a lamp so that she could see their son.

Sitting down in the rocking chair, she waited for her son to latch on before she focused on the dimly lit room and her still sleeping husband. As her sleep addled mind cleared she noticed the room was littered by what appeared to be hundreds of paper birds. She giggled as she realised what her still sound asleep husband had done. It was a creative way to celebrate a paper anniversary.

It dawned on her that this must have been why he had been locked in his study. Relieved that he hadn't forgotten their anniversary she sat quietly more in love with Colin than ever, while her son was feeding. The brighter the room became, the more it revealed the sheer volume of paper birds which were in the room. She would have to ask Rae to find her a box to put them all in.

Just as she put her son back down Colin started to stir. She climbed back into bed and kissed him good morning. "Happy anniversary. I thought you were too busy writing your book to remember our anniversary." Pen breathlessly admitted. She reached into her beside cabinet and handed him his gift.

Amazed as he was at his wife's certainty that he could write more than one book, it saddened him that she thought he was too busy to remember their anniversary. "Have faith that I will remember important dates such as your birthday and our anniversary."

Even after a year of marriage Penelope was still getting used to being someone's priority. "I have all the faith in the world in you. Now open your gift."

Colin eagerly opened the parcel she had handed him. Of course it was the perfect gift. His wife was so observant of others that she practically kept lists in her head of items she had seen family members and friends admiring so she could purchase them as gifts for later. "This is perfect."

Penelope looked around the room at all of the origami. "I cannot wait to see what you come up with for our second anniversary. It's cotton."

"Well, I have a year to work on it." He was already thinking of some possibilities but he pushed that aside to properly wish his wife Happy Anniversary.