Ever since Noah moved out (well, for the last few years, if I’m honest!), I’ve started to regret it. I’m not just talking about big decisions, but about regret in the little things. I wish I had said “yes” more; they put off buying children’s mobile phones longer; taught them much more about how to live alone; and, among several others, they celebrated the holidays with enthusiasm.
I mention this because tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I’ve always been in the “it’s just a Hallmark holiday” group and I don’t know if Jerry and I ever celebrate it. We probably did in the first few years we were dating: Jerry loves vacations, especially if it’s a super cheesy romance. And I really wish I had pleased him all these years. On my birthday a few weeks ago, he said he wished I wanted to celebrate my birthday. He made me feel bad!
That made me think about how festive it doesn’t have to be for me; If he really wants to do something because it makes him feel good, then I can certainly accept that. And since I was feeling bad, I told him that we could celebrate Valentine’s Day however he wanted, no matter how corny it was, I told him that he could make plans and I would cheer up.
And honestly, I’m a little excited about it! I even thought a lot about giving him a couple of gifts. Jerry won’t see this post until he gives her the gifts, so I’ll share them here. The only clue I gave him was, “I promise you, no other person in the world has any of these things… and no other person in the world would want them.” Hahaha it’s true!
Every gift has a story behind it…
One day (probably 15 or 20 years ago) we stopped at an intersection waiting for the light to turn green. In front of us was a utility pole (does anyone else still call them telephone poles? Or just me?) and it had a sign that said “FIREWORKS” with an arrow below it, to show the address where you could buy fireworks .
The sign was upside down and I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. But I pointed it out and said, “Which way do you think fireworks are?” And then Jerry looked at it, opened his mouth to say what should have been obvious, then realized what I had: that someone may have intentionally turned the sign upside down so that the arrow pointed in the opposite direction (instead to remake the sign). ).
We both stared at each other, looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. We could not stop laughing! I don’t remember where we were going, but we laughed so much the rest of the trip that we were panting. The sign is long gone, but every now and then, at that intersection, we ask ourselves, “Which direction do you think the fireworks are?” And we laugh about it.
Well, that’s what motivated this gift. I took a photo of the intersection, then took a piece of cardboard and a marker and recreated the “FIREWORKS” sign. I took a photo of the sign and then retouched the sign into the image to see what it looked like the day we first saw it. I printed it at a 5×7 size (I was actually embarrassed to go pick it up at Walgreens!) and put it in a frame. So, that’s gift number one.
Backstory for gift number two. This one isn’t that specific, but it’s something that’s ongoing between us. When we were dating, one time we were cuddling on the couch and Jerry said, “We fit together like Lego pieces.” And I said, “But there are millions of Legos that fit together. We fit together like some Legos that melted a little and don’t fit any other Legos anymore: they just fit together.” (Okay, I guess maybe it was a little cheesy back then!)
Now, every once in a while, when we hug, one of us mentions that we fit together like melted Legos. That’s how I came up with gift number two. I actually thought a lot about which Lego pieces to use (color and shape) because I wanted to put them on a necklace, bracelet, or even a keychain. I finally chose to make a hemp necklace (like the ones that were popular when we were dating) and add the Legos as a charm. I chose round ones, one black and one white, and then put them together and used a lighter to melt the side. I wanted them to still be able to separate and get back together, but only with each other. It actually worked very well!
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| I can still take them apart, but they don’t fit with any other Lego. |
I *love* giving gifts, but I admit I’m really bad at making them look pretty in the packaging. For Christmas I wrapped things in Amazon boxes or leftover boxes from other things. It’s actually kind of a joke between us! I even watched some YouTube videos over the holidays to try to learn how to wrap better (I learned I just don’t have the patience for it). After watching the videos, Jerry and I competed a few times to see who could wrap the best. I still lost. Ha ha!
Anyway, I decided to go overboard with the necklace box. I actually bought this little box to use instead of reusing a box from something else! However, the necklace looked too plain in the box on its own, so I searched the craft room for something to put under the necklace. I thought maybe a piece of cloth. And when I saw this white satin (I had cut up a dress a while ago to use the fabric and there was a white satin slip underneath), I got the idea of having a cheesy romance.
At first I was just going to make a pillow to put the necklace on. Then I kept adding things. I used red and pink thread around the edges. Then I put a “b” in the middle. I started calling Jerry “b” (lowercase) because he always manages to accidentally press “b” right before sending a text: “I have a meeting after work b.” And I knew it was from quickly double-tapping the space bar (which forms a dot) and accidentally pressing the letter b in the process. So instead of a period, it appears as a space and then b. How do I know this? Because I’ve done it a million times too.
So I started responding with something like, “Okay, see you later.” Jerry has always called me Boo, so calling him “b” actually sounded pretty appropriate! That’s why I added the lowercase b in the satin. Then I thought I could add some hearts too. (I did this freehand on the sewing machine, and I have to say I’m a little impressed that you can tell what it’s supposed to be. It wasn’t easy, but I was too lazy to do it by hand!)
I continued decorating the box with some markers and stencils. (If you’re a Friends fan, remember the episode where Joey used a thesaurus for every word when he wrote a letter to the adoption agency for Chandler and Monica? Instead of “big hearts,” he wrote, “aortic pumps full size”. “.)
Then I put a photo of us inside.
I *really* tried to wrap it carefully and used a couple of techniques I learned from the videos (I think it’ll actually make Jerry laugh when he realizes I did it) and then STILL screwed it up. when I used a spray adhesive for the label I made. (That’s why it looks irregular).
Anyway, I’m really excited about these gifts! I think they’ll make Jerry laugh. And he’ll really appreciate the effort I put into this “Hallmark vacation” 😉
