Well, I guess this could be about things that you can use to kill a vampire, but it’s not.
My fifth wedding anniversary was last weekend, and though we haven’t officially celebrated back at Valley Green yet, we did exchange presents on Sunday when she got home. We picked gifts for each other that are considered “traditional,” though one of us went old school, and the other more modern.
Interestingly, we did both go with a hand made gift. We both found artisans on Etsy that craft their work by hand, from scratch, to make the things we will have for the rest of our lives (hopefully).
Like the friend that got me into them herself, I like to give away Field Notes to people as gifts. And, lucky for me, the recent Shelterwood edition was conveniently made out of real wood. She’s been using a few of mine recently, and probably eyeing up more, so I bought her a subscription to their limited edition “Colors” series.
Now notebook are cool, and they’ll get used, but eventually she’ll have a bunch of them, and no place to store them. So I bought her this…
Her new storage box fits the Field Notes perfectly, is made of a bunch of different types of wood, and was made by Kingswood Creations (check his page out, he has wonderful stuff). Fits in nicely with our other storage boxes, but the one she now owns puts my storage box on the left to shame. 
She overdid herself. I’m okay with buying gifts, but when I got married I thought I could finally stop worrying and let her buy all the gifts. She’s way better at it than I am.
When we got engaged, I found Monika a 100 year old vintage diamond ring that was bought at an estate sale, was made of platinum, and was beautiful. Later I had a wedding ring made to match the shape of it on her finger, so she could wear them both. On the other hand, I didn’t really care about my own, and ordered a simple titanium ring out of a catalog and wore that for five years.
She decided it was time for an upgrade. She tracked down a gentleman on Etsy (who also does amazing work and is highly recommended) to make a ring for me that actually meant something. It’s a spinner ring made out of a 1930 Irish Florin, which is one of the originally coins minted by Ireland after they declared independence. Conveniently, it is made out of silver.
The translation of the words on the ring are “The Irish Free State.” Obviously I have an Irish heritage, but it means even more. She is Jewish, and both our peoples have suffered genocide, diaspora and discrimination in our histories, and the declaration of a free state signifies victory in both our heritages.
The ring fits perfectly and I love it.
Monika and I have been together for 8 years now, and I know for some that doesn’t seem like too much time, for others, that’s far longer than they’ve ever been together with one person. It’s been a hell of an adventure. In that time, we’ve gone to Canada and Italy and Mexico and The Dominican Republic , we’ve bought a new car (after teaching her how to drive) and a home (which I told her she was just a guest in when we moved here because we were only dating at the time), we’ve both started new careers in entirely new fields, we’ve seen friends married and start families and unfortunately, seen others divorce, we’ve “adopted” three cats, made new friends and lost touch with others, some moved away and others moved back “home”, lost love ones and gained new ones.
Marriage is a hell of a fucking ride. And we’re only five years in. But if I make it another 55 years, I’ll get a diamond of my own!
On The Verge of Tears 