Over half a lifetime together...

It's the dead of winter... only dreams and memories of the ocean to keep us going, so I thought I'd side-track the blog for a moment. Sean and I have been together for more than half of our lifetime now, can you believe it? Through thick and thin, in and out of the years (and lately in and out of the waves!). We've grown so much together and it just keeps getting better.

On the 27th of February we celebrated our twenty-fourth wedding anniversary. Twenty-four years- and I still learn something new about him every day. We like to stick to the "traditional" gift suggestions for our wedding anniversaries and this year they were either a musical instrument (Interestingly, the first suggestion for a musical instrument was a harp, of all things!) or a mineral called "Tanzanite".  I am no good at celebrations, but Sean? He's the king. I should have known that he would be able to create the "perfect storm" of special treatment *sigh* I'll never catch up!

Here's my lame plan: I had to work, but I secretly planned to leave early. I've never taken a sick day and I had my one free prep period for the last class of the day, so I thought it would work out perfectly. I went to the grocery store before school started and picked up a little black forest cake for two that I had ordered along with all the ingredients for a gourmet meal. I was going to come home and surprise Sean with a special meal and something I had ordered on line for him, which didn't fit the traditional theme, but I just knew he'd like. 

None of it was meant to be. When I asked about leaving early, I was told that I couldn't so I ended up spending the whole day at school. And I can't tell you what I ordered for Sean because although I ordered it a good two and a half weeks ahead of time, the dang thing still isn't here! BUT- it was probably a good thing I didn't leave early, since Sean had arranged for two dozen roses to be delivered to the school (one for each year we've been married). *sigh* See what I mean? He just can't be topped in the special occasions department. Everyone at school was sighing over the roses and the guys were all upset since he was "showing them up". Little did they know, that was just the beginning...

When I arrived home the house smelled incredible and Sean didn't even let me into the kitchen to put my groceries away. He escorted me to a candlelit, rose petal-covered bubble bath, and the royal treatment began...

He had made a fabulous meal of escargots, ceaser salad, chicken kiev and asparagus with hollondaise sauce and in the middle of the table was a huge gift. After the first course he said, "go ahead, open it!". I proceeded to unwrap a didgereedoo (the musical instrument)... about as far away from a harp as you can get! We laughed about it- he always manages to find a way to fit the traditional theme, even when it's bizarre. He has turned it into a game of sorts. It is an absolutely perfect gift to give me, since I have started a month of "Show and Tell" at school, where I am introducing the kids to instruments from different cultures. I wanted to start the month off with the very first types of instruments people made, so I was going to talk about aboriginal tribes from different places in the world... couldn't be better! In fact, I would love to put a picture of it up on the blog, but it is currently at the school, since I already showed it to my classes on Thursday and then we had a snow day on Friday, so it is still there. I'll try and take a picture on Monday and add it later.

Anyway- I turned the didgereedoo over to look at it (the painting is really cool) and lodged in the bottom, blocking off the airflow, were a pair of socks. I thought they must be there to protect it or something, so I pulled them out, and behind the socks was a jewelry case...

You guessed it, he managed to find Tanzanite as well. Not just Tanzanite, but the most beautiful, simple, exquisite setting I've ever seen for a stone. He then proceeded to tell me the story of trying to find it... There is only one place in the world where they mine Tanzanite (Tanzania, of course) and they closed the last mine three years ago, so there is no more of it to be found anywhere in the world. He searched through countless jewelry stores, getting more and more stories about how rare it is. Eventually he found one that had two pieces; They hadn't even been put out on display yet. One was a bracelet, which wasn't what he was looking for, and the other was an absolutely perfect pendant of white gold (the same as our wedding bands) with a gorgeous Tanzanite stone in it.

Once again, Sean has outdone himself.

I managed to make my celebratory meal the following day, since we got a snow day off from school, and I most certainly will celebrate again once my dang package for him arrives, but there is no topping this. He sure knows how to make a girl feel special.

So thank you to Sean for finding a way to celebrate in style... I hope you know how much I love you- words just never express it, but I try. And Happy Anniversary to us... here's to at least twenty-four more years of fun, waves and laughter. I can't wait to begin.