A Gift of Love

Some husbands lavish their wives with jewelry, flowers and chocolate -- or so I've heard -- and while my own husband has given me set of sapphire jewelry once (my favorite & birth stone), gives me flowers on occasion and definitely knows my chocolate preference (dark), his gifts usually lean towards the more practical and unique.

People are always complimenting my Nikon D90, which seems like a permanent fixture around my neck when we leave the house.  I usually tell them, "Thank you, some husbands buy their wives jewelry ... my husband gives me really great cameras, plus accessories!"

But provision for expensive cameras and new lenses or whatever is pretty rare, so in the meantime, C thoughtfully brings me a new pen or some tape or some other office supply -- because he knows how much I love and appreciate them.

The other evening we were looking at the catalog at Costco and I spied a bright red Swingline stapler.  Now, I have had the same black Swingline for almost as long as we've been married.  It still has years of use left.  But the fire engine red of that one in the catalog was just gorgeous.  I lusted for it.

Then I finally turned the page and said, "Maybe someday, I'll get that bright red stapler ... but for now, mine works great."  Then I added, "However, if you ever see a bold blue Swingline, order it immediately!"

Blue is my favorite color and I've never seen a blue Swingline in my life (though I've seen the red one before ... and it gets a supporting role in the movie Office Space, which is a pretty funny grown-ups only movie, if you've never seen it).

(source)

Last night, an Amazon box arrived at my door.  This is not uncommon since we are a homeschooling family and I'm one Mama who loves books for our school.  But this box had my husband's name on the label.

I said, "Hey, you got a package from Amazon."

He said, "No, you did."

I said, "Um, this one has your name on it though."

He said, "I guess you ordered something in my name."

Perplexed and totally caught off-guard, I opened the box and sure enough, there was my blue Swingline!!

It is beautiful.  Just the shade of royal blue I dreamed about.  So my nearly 20-year-old black Swingline will stay in use and stand up to the kids' regular stapling needs.  But this blue one is mine.

My Precious.

Okay, so I know better than to idolize it.  But it is seriously cool.  My husband rocks.