Anniversary Stories

For our first anniversary, I wanted to get something great for Josh - and I had an idea that I wanted to follow the traditional gift guide.  Now, I'm not really sure when that whole gig started, but whoever began it decided that the first anniversary gift should be something paper.  I needed something awesome...and made of paper.  I felt pretty lucky when it came to me that I should blow up a photograph he took and have it framed for our new home.  It was no ordinary picture, you see, this was a Tulsa State Fair third place winning picture of Mount Hood from the yard in front of Pittock Mansion.  There was a couple in the way of the shot, and I remember being disappointed that we couldn't get a better view.  But they brought a nice warmth and balance to the whole thing, so I guess I owe that mystery couple a "thank you."

Anyhow, I had it matted and framed and I wrapped it up and presented it to my husband.  He opened it and got the strangest look on his face.  "Dangit," I thought, "he hates it.  I should have gone with a different frame or something."  After a minute of me feeling like a failure, he got up and told me to follow him into the garage.  In the back of his pickup truck was a fantastically done painting of the same picture he asked his brother to do.  At that moment, I think we might have yelled "MFEO!" (Made For Each Other?  Sleepless in Seattle?  Anyone?) because we got each other pretty much the same present.  We hung them next to each other in the living room as a testament to our synchronicity. 

Here is the painted version, plucked from the background of another picture

We've done well at following the gift guide since then:
Year 2 (Cotton):  I commissioned a Tulsa-inspired painting on canvas done by his favorite Saturday Market artist, and Josh got me tickets to see James Taylor because he mixed up the first two years and thought it went cotton then paper, instead of the other way around.
Year 3 (Leather): We picked out cowboy boots together
Year 4 (Fruit/Flowers): We got a membership to a local vineyard

Today is our fifth anniversary, and the gift this year is supposed to be wood.  We thought about a nice piece of furniture, or maybe a tree, but we don't have a house anymore.  So that's out.  Instead, we've been looking at little boats on Craigslist.  I'm getting pretty excited about it!  I like our tradition.  It makes us get a little creative, and our anniversary gifts have always been memorable!