Anniversary # 32

We met in Jacksonville while we were working for the same company. I was a jewelry buyer for a 17 store - chain of catalog showrooms. Remember those? They've all gone by the wayside now, but in the 70's they were all over the country. He was a jewelry department manager. We worked closely together for a while and then got "flirty" with each other. We started dating and I was in love! He was 8 1/2 years older than me, 6'5" tall and reminded me of Pernell Roberts. Pernell, of course, was the older brother Adam on Bonanza.
We moved to Seattle Washington after dating for a couple of years. He had received a big promotion and was now working in the corporate office of another catalog showroom with stores in Washington and Oregon. They hired me too, to be a part of their buying staff. We lived together (gasp!) because it just made sense. Mama was not happy. She didn't like that VW camper owning guy who took her daughter camping all over Florida. She referred to him as "What's-his-name" only. Never by his given name. So when he took me all the way to Seattle, it was on like Donkey Kong. When I called, she'd say "Are you alone?" Uh, no, ma, I'm not.  I told her I was cold up there in the Pacific Northwest and she crocheted a lap blanket for me. I wish I still had it, I might have stored it somewhere, but who knows where. This lap blanket was only wide enough for one person. It is hilarious, we both laughed our butts off when it arrived.  No evil camper-owning man was going to snuggle with her daughter, that's for sure. When we finally decided to set a date, I hesitated to invite anyone. Mom was so upset with me for such a long time and I really didn't think she'd approve of our marriage. Surprisingly, she and my dad came. On our way to the airport to pick them up, I apologized in advance to my husband for what my mom might say to him. Back then, you could walk up to the gate and wait for passengers to deplane. There they are! I see them... and to my total amazement, mom passes right by me and hugs him first! After that, he was golden to her.

So we have been together for 32 years. Mom is 90 this year and still as feisty as she ever was. I saw on Pinterest recently an adorable gift idea for an anniversary, so of course, I copied it. And here is my version...

This is the journey of our lives together. I found maps on the internet of all the significant places we shared, like our first date destination, cities we lived in, places where we vacationed, took a snapshot (on my Mac) of all of them and adjusted them in Illustrator to be about 1 1/2 inches square each. I printed them out on glossy photo paper, and cut them out with a heart punch. I bought a 12x12 shadow box frame at Hob Lob with a 50% off coupon for $10. I had planned a total of 25 hearts, and put them in chronological order. I cut a 12x12 mat and placed them in 5 rows of 5, then when I was pleased with the placement, I mounted them with foam squares... so they popped. You could do this without the shadowbox frame and just make them flat, but I love how more interesting it looks with dimension.
I started with Daytona Beach (our first date) and ended with a satellite image of our house I found on Zillow. Most of the maps came from Map Quest. I have a couple of our favorite restaurants too. I jut looked them up on the internet and snapped a shot of their logos. Corky Bell's in East Palatka is one of our favorites places. We love to go outside and eat on the deck facing the St. John's River. They have the most awesome fried shrimp!

Beverly Beach was one of the places where we used to go camping. They had a campground that was right on the beach so we could hear the waves all night long. It is between St. Augustine and Daytona on A1A.

 

Our anniversary is on September 10, so I'm going to hide it until then. I think that he will be pleased. Happy Anniversary, Pieface!