Timely Fortune

Ian wanted us to have something special for our anniversary.  We were already having a fancy dinner, at China Max, at the food court in an outlet store complex - I got General Tso's - but Ian wanted to contribute in his own way.  He had only found out that it was our actual anniversary a short time before, and he had been scrambling to figure out what to give us.  He gave us each a piece of his bourbon chicken.  But then he got an inspiration.

He ran back to the China Max counter and checking for the permission - I think - of the proprietor, he quickly caught up with us with a pair of fortune cookies in hand.  Ian likes fortune cookies, but he didn't get himself one - these were for us, one per spouse.  And here's an uncanny twist:  it just so happened that the fortune cookies themselves, each individually wrapped, were actually stuck together.  It was like they were intended for us, and they had their own inseparable bond, as if to remind us of everything that binds husband and wife together.  (It could be that Ian consciously picked a pair that were united in this way.  In any case, I don't think the symbolism was lost on him...)

And he directed us each to read our own fortune cookie.  It bothers Ian that some people just open the cookie without reading the fortune, or vice versa (I forget which boorish vice he mentioned).  And he told us something like, "Don't be surprised if it says, 'You've been happily married for ten years' or 'Next year, your eleventh anniversary will be very exciting."  He made this projection twice, and in spite the humorous gleam in his eye, I suspect he was thinking we might get such a tailor-made message.

It impressed me that Amy rose to the occasion, right on queue.  I don't think she likes fortune cookies.  But she read hers, and told the children about how, as she relates it, on our first date, in Chinatown in Boston, she got a fortune that said she should marry the person sitting across from her.  [Historically, our first date was actually in Portsmouth; the second date was on Tyler Street in Chinatown, Boston... I think the original Confucian text was something like "Look no further; what you seek is right before you." But she has been telling the children for years about how, on our first date, the fortune cookie told her to marry Daddy, and this is a much better version, perhaps more truthful in its "essence"...]

Ian was pleased that he could make our day more special.  And he did, especially with his doting enthusiasm that borders on the parental, rather than filial.  And even though I'm not sure China Max would have been my first choice - I'm more of a "China Buffet" man myself - there was something nice about having the "fruits" our of adventure right there for the celebration.   And without these communal circumstances, we wouldn't have had Ian's indulgent goodwill to add poignant cheer to the occasion.

(September, 2012)