About three months ago I decided to create a little gift for my wife and since then I've been keeping it a secret. Technically I'm not lying about it, just not telling her so...Yep, being deceptive. I wrote a post about it and if you're interested in reading that post you can read it here...It was truly magnificent (Not really).
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In a nutshell, I gathered a whole lot of photos from our lives together, all thirty three years of it, and collated them into a book. Of course, many were on photo paper, not digital, and those I had to have professionally scanned; This all took me a while to do.
I created the book online, on one of those sites that offer templates, then sent it off for printing and a couple of weeks later it arrived. I had planned to take Faith on a picnic into the countryside and give her the book as a gift. We're not the sort of couple to make a big deal of fancy dinners at expensive restaurants - It's more about the experience of being together. So, our picnic-scenario would have been perfect. (I make a bloody awesome picnic spread too y'all!)
To date, I have not done so though. Why?
Well, because problem after problem came up and it's been difficult to find the space; I mean the right emotional space more so than the right space in time. We have been subjected to some fairly stress-inducing scenarios in the last couple of months and I'll be honest...I just didn't have it in me to bring it together as I wanted to. My biggest concern was that neither of us would be in the right frame of mind to truly appreciate it. So I stashed it away in a good hiding spot, one of my gun safes, where she cannot access it.
Sometimes I wonder if it would have been a nice thing to do whilst we were both deeply enmeshed in the challenging situations we have faced although I think I made the right choice to hold off.
We are in August now and in my part of Australia that means we will be heading out of winter and into some truly spectacular weather; Whilst our winters are mild and can be beautifully sunny, I think it would be nice to have our little picnic in slightly warmer weather, surrounded by the blossoming of spring. Trust me, there's nothing quite like picking over one of the G-dog's splendid picnic-spreads whilst sitting beside a small creek in the dappled shade of overhanging trees.
I'm looking forward to handing over that box and to see her happiness when she realises what I've done. I believe she'll be overwhelmingly pleased and, of course, we'll go through its many pages and remember those moments, live them again. She hasn't changed too much in those years but me...Well, let's just say the old G-dog has metamorphosed over the time we have been together - No, you're not seeing any of the old images.
Faith and I are simple people with simple tastes generally. We don't need fancy nights out, although have them occasionally. We don't need expensive things, although get them occasionally and we don't need a lot of ceremony around the special things we do. A picnic in the countryside and a simple picture book is all we need to find a valuable experience.
Faith and I have been through some pretty difficult moments lately; If you actually read my posts you'll know what I'm referring to. The thing is that we have always had difficult moments; Life is never easy or smooth. It's just something that happens, life's-challenges, and they have to be faced head on. These last few months are not isolated and even as we come out of those situations we both know the future may throw up more. That's why we celebrate each day, chase experiences over things and move forward together, as a unit. We know no other way.
The book I made is not just a book containing pictures of things we did together; It's our story in pictures. Each is just a split second captured within a multitude of seconds and to a casual observer may seem mundane. To us though, the people who lived those seconds, each picture is a profound and valuable piece of our life woven into our tapestry.
Do you guys do this sort of thing? Are you more inclined to have a private moment shared between yourselves or are you more likely to share it with others in a restaurant or on social media. Can you see yourself collating thirty three years of life together with your partner and handing it to them as a gift? Would you dare dig up pictures that old? Trust me, I dug up some bloody terrible pictures of myself! Feel free to comment down there 馃憞 and let me know.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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