Why is it so hard to remember a very important date? It would seem as though an important date, like an anniversary or birthday, would be easy to remember, but all too often these dates come and go and suddenly, it’s too late to get a gift and everything goes south real fast.

Forget an anniversary date and you will be in the proverbial doghouse. Forget an anniversary and she will be fuming, she will accuse you of not caring and you will do anything to make things better.

Well, you can start with buying her a crystal anniversary gift. And a heartfelt apology doesn't hurt either.

Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of what is sure to be a long road to recovery. That is, you will need to take any number of steps necessary to get back in her good graces. Here is what needs to happen if you want your lives to get back to normal.

No Excuses

Your spouse doesn't want to hear excuses, it makes her feel as though you are trying to justify the fact you forget your anniversary. This will only make her even angrier. If you feel as though you have to offer a reason, a simple explanation will have to do.

Basically, what you want to tell her is how you messed up and forgot your anniversary. Your explanation should be right to the point and don't forget to use words like, Fool, idiot and scatterbrained, all used to describe yourself of course. Here is an example:

“I forgot our anniversary because I’m just a scatterbrained fool.”

Apology

An apology from you is a no-brainer, but it is in the way you apologize that is important. The best way to apologize is publically. That is, your apology should be an action witnessed by as many people as power.

A public apology sends her the strong message that you are willing to admit your mistake in front of others and it holds you accountable to more than just your spouse. If you make a list of New Year’s resolutions and fail, you are only disappointing yourself, but if you share that list of resolutions with others and fail, you disappoint them as well.

Time to Make Up

You cannot turn the clock back and fix your mistake. You can, however, make it up to your wife and move on.

Plan a special celebration with your spouse and plan on doing something she likes. Just as you would have done on the forgotten anniversary. This could be a night on the town including an expensive dinner and a movie or other type of show or it could even be a long weekend getaway at a nice cabin or hotel in the big city.

The point we are trying to make here is that you need to grovel like never before and make her feel like you are willing to do anything to make things better. Even if this includes having to suck it up and do some things you don't want to do, like take her shopping for a new ring.

Actually, a new ring might just put things right again. Until the next time you mess up.