I Bet You’ll Save Your Corks After Reading This

My husband and I are wine drinkers. He prefers red wine and I prefer white wine.

When my husband and I first moved in together, we bought a bottle of (nicer) wine to celebrate. We were engaged and we were renting our first apartment on our own – it was a big step. After cracking open that bottle of wine, we instinctively saved the cork. It sat in the corner of the kitchen counter for a couple of days before we decided to grab a Sharpie and write “1st apartment” on it with the date. This was the cork that started our collection.

As we move through life together, we continue to crack open wine bottles to celebrate moments. We write down the big moments, such as birthdays and accomplishments, but most of the corks we save are simply mementos of the time we spend together.

Because not everything has to have a deep and underlying meaning to it. Even those couple of hours we have to ourselves after the kids go to bed are worth remembering.

We started saving these corks in a tall vase, which turned into two tall vases. One Christmas, I got my husband a VERY large vase – one that sits on the floor. We poured all the corks into this new container and continue filling it with every bottle we open.

For our daughter’s first birthday we opened a bottle of Champagne with our family – that cork is now sitting on our kitchen windowsill waiting to be dropped into the vase.

We probably won’t take all these corks out and reminisce over them, but we like to think that we are, in a way, recording them. As it’s filled with more “big” moments, you can start to see more writing on the corks. The last time I added to our collection I saw “NYE ’22” written on a cork, and just like that, I was taken back to that day for a moment. It was the second New Years Eve that we stayed home. We had put our 2-month-old and 1-year-old to bed and we didn’t make it until midnight! But we still celebrated this day together and because of this little cork, I made the effort to remember that day.

My husband and I like to celebrate both big and small moments. Every day that we get to celebrate something with each other and our girls is a day worth celebrating. We also hope to remember the times when we’re just sipping on wine in each other’s company. Or when we’re spending time with friends conversing over a couple of drinks. All these moments are so different, yet we hope to one day remember them.

I like to think of this vase as being filled with joyous memories. Life isn’t always kind and it doesn’t always seem fair. Amongst all the happy memories my husband and I have made together, we have our fair share of dark times, too. No matter how hard things seem at times, we keep going because we have all the joyous moments to motivate us.

This visual reminder of our good times doesn’t have to be resembled by corks. You can fill a vase with anything. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a vase. It can be a box or bin. However you decide to document your stories, know that you won’t regret it.

The very first cork my husband and I saved is hidden amongst many others, and for that I am very grateful.