Twenty-five years

Tom and I just celebrated our 25th anniversary. Twenty-five. Years. Whoa. It doesn't seem that long but when you think that you've been with the same person, outside your parents, for that amount of time it is long. And mind-blowing. Twenty-five years!

I'm terrible at gift-giving. It's probably one of the reasons why I'm late with birthday wishes. I never know what to get people. Sometimes I do. Sometimes it is so easy that I don't have to think about it at all, but that's rare. Now, especially as everyone ages, I rarely don't have any good ideas. I'm to the point that when I see something that someone would like, I grab it now or write it down in my notes app in my phone under gift ideas for people.

When we were first married, and even before, when we dated, Tom was the best gift giver. He always did creative things and came up with fun and romantic ideas. He was big with going the traditional route like the first anniversary is paper, and the twenty-fifth year is silver. I just thought the whole notion of exchanging gifts silly. I mean, we spend each day together. How is a present going to celebrate what we really do every day?

But this year, I was all over it. I figured twenty-five years is a big deal. Look how far we've come! I was determined to get something perfect, and so I started early. I researched ideas. Silver. One year I had a keychain made and engraved, so while that would have maybe worked for twenty-five years, I'd already shot my wad. I didn't really want any other silver in my house. I barely know what to do with the stuff I inherited from my mother. So, eventually lacking creativity, I turned to Amazon. And I found it!

An artist on Amazon paints a tree made of hearts, silver hearts, and perched in the tree are two red birds lovingly staring at one another. In the bark of the tree, she paints either your names or your initials. Sort of like a lovers' carving in a favorite tree with the date. 

Bingo! It was the type of thing that Tom would get me when stopping by an art festival, and so after much discussion with friends and my daughter, I ordered the picture and went with the initials, starting with mine on top. C.M. heart T.B. I was tickled pink. Not only was I ahead of schedule, but I also had picked a winner.

The package arrived in two days. It was a nondescript, slightly larger than 8x10 box and I opened it and danced around the house with joy. I had gotten the ultimate, rare, silver gift without bowing down to a silver engraved item. Now the only question I had was where to put it?

Three days later, my doorbell rang, my dog barked frantically, and I went to the door to find a replica of the package that had been delivered already. It lay on the ground where the Amazon Prime driver had placed it, and the following ran through my head at lightning speed:

• I had not done an excellent job of proofing the tree, but the artist had discovered the mistake and fixed it.
• Amazon messed up my order and somehow sent me another of the same print.

                                    

AND, FINALLY

• Holy shit, Tom ordered the same damn gift!

I checked the recipient's name--Tom. 

I checked the sender's name--same artist. 

I started laughing. 

I laughed until I cried. 

I couldn't help it. That's the story of my life, people. 

It's rare for me to pull off a great one, and just when I thought I'd actually done it, Lucy pulled the football out from under Charlie Brown!

SueG: "Maybe he put his initials first, or maybe he wrote the names instead of the initials. It could be different."

No such luck. We both did the tree the very same way. Tom didn't appreciate the humor at first, but by the time our special day arrived, he got into it. I mean...come on. 

Madison: "Well, you were right! Dad did like it, obviously."

Happy 25th to the man who makes me laugh. 

May we manage to limp along through the next twenty-five!