Shiny-Sparkly-Scepter-Bouquet-Thingy

Did you wonder what my mother was threatening to bop my dad with in the last post?

It was a Shiny-Sparkly-Scepter-Bouquet-Thingy!

To elaborate a bit on that, it was a memento for their anniversary, made of pins and brooches and other serendipitous finds. With the help of a friend (or really, the reverse of that - I handed things to her like a surgical nurse) we put together a little bouquet with a satin ribbon-wrapped stem. 

I really enjoyed shopping for this. Really enJOYed it! Would love to do that again. Love shopping more and more in my advanced age. LOVE it. Want me to make you one??

I tried to include meaningful items - a heart, a sand dollar to represent their time here near the beach (though I'd dance a jig if I ever encountered a shell, much less a sand dollar on our beaches, haha), gold items, since it was their 50th anniversary....

Here are a few closeups:

I had hoped to find a bird, for my mother has always loved birdwatching, and has several bird feeders outside her window. I searched and searched (and, mind you, I'm not complaining about that) with no success. 

And my new Sunday School teacher knew about the search, and one day she handed me a beautiful gold pin of TWO hummingbirds (how romantic), studded with rhinestones!

Perfect.

Life's not perfect; sometimes it's a real roller coaster ride. And milestones like golden anniversaries are special, shiny gems to enjoy and appreciate and bring a little fun! 

He Da Man

Here's a man people either love or hate:

Oh, the stories I could tell...but who wants to hear about hate when LOVE is so much more...lovely?

Can't help but love a man who'll sit through Nanny McPhee and act like he's enjoying it as much as he enjoyed Killer Rodents on the Space Shuttle.

Can't help but be attracted to a man who tells me he loves me in a Scooby Doo voice. And his Marvin the Martian impression sends my heart
a-flutter.

Can't help but adore a man who loves the unlovely, the addicted, the lost, the scary (and a few of them ARE a bit scary) enough to dedicate his life to helping them.

Can't help but be fascinated by a man, who, in bed at night, in spite of his allergies, reaches a hand out to give the cat that token rub she requires before she'll settle down to sleep. And then there's the whole "Saluting the Dog" thing...

The man bought me another diamond ring to replace the one I spun off the table at McGuffy's restaurant (of course, it was totally his fault for spinning his wedding band first. I can't help it if he's a better ring spinner than I am), he worried when I rode my bike all the way to church in heavy traffic, he put up with my chunky shoe phase, he laughs at my jokes (many of which are missing the key part on which the entire joke hangs - still not sure how that happens), he tells me to spend money...although, in retrospect, this may coincide with his desire to spend money...but still..., he loves to hop in the car and look for adventure on our days off, he even sits patiently while Flutterbug and I wander, as in a dream, through the sparkly and mesmerizing Christmas Store.

For our anniversary, he took me to a such a fancy restaurant that the waiter seated us and said (I kid you not), "Let me remove these white napkins from the table. I have black napkins that I believe would be better suited to your attire." The owner, who knows Mike slightly, came by the table, asked about Victory Home, and offered to call the mayor about a small city problem we're having...pulled out his cell phone and dialed him right then! We dined on the freshest she-crab soup, asparagus, some sort of meat (meat doesn't stay in my memory very well), scalloped potatoes...then headed to the oceanfront and walked and ate ice cream and reluctantly headed home the next day.

In a nutshell, I've had a fantastic 25-years of marriage with this zany guy, and I know full well that the next 25 won't disappoint!

Black napkins, yes, I can see that...