My Night in a Wal-Mart Parking Lot
Sometimes the unusual circumstances bring the most joy
“You did what?” my friend Dawn asked when I told her what my husband and I did for our anniversary.
I nodded. “Yep. Scott and I spent the night in our Explorer in a Wal-mart parking lot.”
“On purpose?” She half-snorted.
I nodded again. “On purpose.”
Okay, let me explain. Almost every year for our anniversary, Scott and I drive two-and-a-half hours to a small historic, tourist town just east of the Mississippi River. We knew we wanted to go there last year for our anniversary. But because we had no place to leave our dog (we don’t do kennels), and because there were no pet-friendly motels in the area, and because it was November and no campgrounds were open, we opted to rough it.
We packed sleeping bags, toothbrushes, and our mini-DVD player for an overnighter. (Yes, we did take showers before we left!) Since Wal-Mart is open 24 hours, that seemed the most logical and safe place to host our slumber party. Granted, I couldn’t pad barefoot to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but still, we thought it would be a fun adventure.
So that evening, after a candlelit Italian dinner and a long walk window shopping along the downtown streets, we headed to the sparse parking lot.
As we got out of the car and walked toward the store, Scott asked, “Are you sure this is okay?” From the look on his face, I figured he was actually thinking, Are you going to go along with this, but then sometime in the future bring up the fact that I was a louse about our anniversary?
I laughed. “Yes,” I said, squeezing his hand. “This is totally okay. Really.”
We nearly skipped into Wal-Mart like two giddy kids on their way to Walt Disney World.
Inside we bought a movie and some snacks, brushed our teeth, then ran back to the car to snuggle down for the night.
“This is just like a drive-in!” I said, munching on some Milk Duds.
The movie ended up being lame, Scott fell asleep halfway through, and our dog kept barking at passing cars, but we had a blast.
We still talk about how much fun that sleepover was. Sure, it’s not the most romantic or high-brow way to spend an anniversary, and I admit that my joints were creaky the next day. But it accomplished exactly what we’d set out to do: celebrate in a unique way, and just hang out together.
Life is too often too serious and troublesome. It felt nice for my husband and me to do something completely different and fun and nonserious. Even just for that short while.
Our next anniversary is coming up in a few weeks. Alas, no Wal-Mart parking lot for us this year. We’re doing our civic duty by voting (something I strongly urge all citizens to do!) and then we’re heading to a concert in nearby downtown Chicago. I think it will still be fun, and we’ll probably still talk about it for years to come.
But I also know there are several Wal-Marts on our way into the city. And as we pass each of them, I know Scott and I will look at each other and share a secret joy over the night we celebrated our wedding sleeping in a parking lot.
If you’re married, what’s the most unusual and fun way you’ve spent your anniversary?
Posted at 11:38 AM on October 21, 2008.
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Our first anniversary was our most unusual -- but not the most fun. My husband had a kidney stone attack so we "celebrated" in the emergency room of the local hospital!
Posted by: Cheryl on October 21, 2008
Our anniversary has, so far, fallen around Labor Day. We decided the year we were married to celebrate our marriage (and kick off what would turn out to be our annual week vacation) by walking the longest suspension bridge in the US (and it's the 3rd largest in the world). The Mackinac Bridge connects the lower and Upper Peninsula of Michigan (www.mackinacbridge.org). 2008 was # 4 for us.
Posted by: Deborah on October 23, 2008
Happy anniversary! What a blast. You two sounds like two peas in a pod, full of adventure and fun. With your personalities, your great-grandchildren will have many stories to share about you two.
My husband and I have yet to spend the night in a parking lot. But we do have our own silly fun. I often remind my husband what I told him before we were married. "I can't promise you an easy marriage, but I can promise that you will have the ride of our life!"
Posted by: Joanne on October 23, 2008
That is so kool. I probably would opt for somewhere else like a remote place, but still a neat concept. My hubby and I slept out in our vehicle in our driveway one night. Our backs were so sore the next day but was really kool.
Posted by: Elisha on October 24, 2008
Our anniversary is the the day after Christmas so many times our anniversary celebration takes a backseat to visiting family, traveling for the holidays and the focus on Jesus Christ. We don't usually actually "plan" anything because the holidays are already so full for us. One year, while we were in Texas visiting my family, after much stressing about what we should do for our anniversary, my husband I decided to just spend the entire day at my grandparents' house. We joined my grandparents' infront of the television to watch their favorite television shows with them. For me, it was just like being home when I was little and use to watch television with them. My husband no longer has any living grandparents so he really enjoyed spending so much time with them. It was a great evening of bonding and we felt so loved! My husband and I agree it is the best anniversary we ever spent together!
Posted by: Sandra on October 24, 2008
That is soo sweet! I love that idea, my husband and me like to do adventures like that. Keep the cheap fun ideas coming. :0)
Posted by: Amanda on October 24, 2008
Ok, so I'm following the unusual, but not so fun...we celebrated our 11th anniversary in the ER with our 1 1/2 year old after he collided with a coffee table and required several stitches!
On one of the more fun ones, several years ago, we drove about 4 hours away to spend the weekend in a specialty themed hotel - they had different rooms like igloos, tree-houses, castles, spaceships etc. We picked two and had a blast! (In the space ship we could play all sorts of video games! Silly but very fun!)
Posted by: Lundie on October 24, 2008
You know, I saw the title, My Night In A Wal-mart Parking Lot, and I too, spent a night at Wal-Mart. I did not however spend it in the parking lot. I spent a night on the bench in front of the entrance. My experience was not on purpose. I became homeless that day with 3 young children. I had no where to go. I had to finally take my children to their dad's home, (who was my abuser) and I had no where to go. The shelters here in my area had no open beds, I had no family willing to help, and of course, no vehicle to sleep in.
I will say this though, I did have the Lord with me and did find joy in it. And I know the Lord was with me that night, because as I was sitting on the bench at 3 a.m., two young high school boys had walked past me. When the exited the store, they asked if I knew the Lord and I told them I did. So they said the Lord was telling them to say a prayer with me and we three prayed. The next day, I was off the streets. Amen. What joy the Lord brings when you are faithful to Him.
Posted by: Christine on October 25, 2008
My husband and I have only had one anniversary and we've already forgotten what we did. :)) I guess that's what we get for celebrating all year long!
Posted by: Dr. Carolyn Clansy Miller on October 27, 2008
I was 4 months pregnant on my first anniversary, and when I woke up I realised I had the worst throat infection even. On my second anniversary, I was busy taking care of my 5 month old baby. So, deciding that atleast our 3rd anniversary should be special, I whisked my hubby to a roof top restaurant in the middle of the city. The restaurant has arabian style reclining beds/seaters around a pool in a very dim environment. We did not have a booking, but the head chef was gracious to make our evening special. My hubby did not like the food, but that was the only night in our married life where we had spend atleast 2 hours to simply lie down and gaze the stars together!
Posted by: Annie on November 5, 2008
My husband, Kevin, and I were married on the 23rd day of May. We have had several memorable anniversaries. The year we celebrated our 23rd anniversary he took off work and we did 23 different things throughout the day, spreading over several counties beginning with an estate sale at a cool 100+ yr old home filled with antiques, and ending with dinner out. We've now been married 28+ yrs, are empty nesters and look forward to more memorable celebrations!
Posted by: Donna on November 11, 2008
Thirty-six years ago, while we were engaged I lived in our soon-to-be-shared apartment while he lived in the men's dorm of the college where we met.
One evening I received a couple of obscene phone calls which rattled me so my husband-to-be bought me a Winnie The Pooh bear to keep me company until we were married. As silly as it may sound, it helped. Such is the power of a teddy bear, I guess.
For our first anniversary we dressed up for a lovely candlelight dinner at a fancy restaurant. Then, still dressed in our finery, my husband took me to the local theatre where we lined up with the kiddies to see the latest Pooh movie.
We laughed all the way home about the absurdity of it and the looks on some of the faces around us.
Thirty-six years later, I still have this special guy in my life and we're still laughing while that old Pooh bear is tucked safely away for safe-keeping.
Posted by: Aprille Janes on November 15, 2008
we were blessed with twins 5 years into our marriage...after they arrived we lost all track of time, space and each other. By the time our 9th anniversary rolled around, the kids were old enough to spend a weekend away with family. Money was tight (still is!) but I planned 9 different activities to do over the weekend. All were a surprise to hubby and none was very expensive. We went to the bookstore, out for ice cream, to a coffeehouse, to the map store (he loves maps), to the $1 movie, took a nap (what a novel idea!), out to dinner (with coupons), went to see a friend's band play and the next day slept late and went out to breakfast (one of our before kids favorites!). It was amazing to just reconnect doing the things we used to take for granted.
Posted by: junebug69 on November 19, 2008
Me and my hubby are pretty cool. We raelly love each other and stuff so we get together on r special day and see if some one can take the kids. we make a super nice meal to gether and we eat it then we eat strawberries and chocolate in our room and do some other stuff ;). We watch a movie and then do it again its a fun cheap way to spend ur aniversary.
Posted by: Laney on November 19, 2008
Me and my husband of 15 years do a lot of stuff to celebrate. I think my favorite thing did, though, was about two years ago. He did everything the same way he had done when he proposed to me. He packed the same picnic lunch, same blanket, same park and same chick (me). It was so romantic and sweet. We sometimes rent a nice hotel room and spend the night there. I'm not one for roughing it!
Posted by: Esme Rain on November 19, 2008
I think I will always remeber our 20th just a few months ago. We were so broke I was sure we couldn't do anything or go anywhere but to my surprise my hubby had been saving his loose change for some time and rolled it all up to take me out to a local resort for dinner, bought a nonalcolic bottle of drink and rented a room at a completley empty resort house - not fancy, but it was perfect - we spent our last five dollars on coffee and a biscuit in the morning.
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