"I do, I do, I do!"

When I go to pick up my daughters in school, I always listen to a radio show called ”The 3 pm pick-up” – a very suitable name as many people sit in their cars at that time and go to pick up their children in school. Yesterday, the two ladies were discussion the trend of renewing the vows which is basically getting married all over again to the same partner without first getting a divorce. It is generally considered as romantic and a way to affirm one’s love for one another. Apparently Matt Damon and his wife are renewing their vows after 8 years as married and now their children will be able to witness their parents promise to love and to hold in sickness and in health. That's what they said on the radio, these ladies whom both found the trend to renew the vows to be "sooo romantic" and thought that everyone should do it at least once.

 I consider myself as a romantic, I like to tell my loved ones that I love them, I like candles and quiet dinners. I like giving little presents and I like receiving little presents. When my husband and I were newly weds, we said that on our 5th anniversary we should renew our vows – preferably in neon light blinking chapel in Las Vegas with an Elvis impersonator singing ”Love me tender” during the ceremony. We postponed it until our 10th anniversary. When our 10th anniversary came up we agreed that renewing the vows is both silly and ridiculous and not at all what we consider to be romantic. We had a nice dinner together with our girls and we both agreed that it was very easy to be married to each other, that we love each other more and more for each year and that we hope to stay married to each other for a very long time.

I do wonder about the renewal of vows; does it mean that you are twice as married as you were before? Like 200% instead of 100%? If you get a divorce, do you need to divorce twice? Is it really romantic to renew the vows? I mean, it’s not like the marriage will end unless you renew it every 10 year like a driver’s license.

We have been married for 15 years in August. We might not text love messages to each other or display our love and happiness in Facebook statuses. We light up every time we see each other, I get flowers on special days, I buy little thoughtful gifts for my husband every now and then and we hold hands in our sleep – and I think that is romantic enough for me.