Moral of the story: my husband is a thoughtful, loving, and sneaky man :)
Let me start at the beginning...
Way back in June of 2012, our friends Ali & Mark got married. (We actually found out we were pregnant 4 days before their wedding, read the story here.) Ali & I were in graduate school together while she was planning their wedding and we had a blast busting out venue sketches and vintage stamps in between classes :) Girls gotta plan, right?
Anyway, one of my very favorite things that Ali did for the wedding was her choice of bridesmaid gift. She had a local artist/jewelry designer (Steven at Aurum, here in downtown Athens), who also designed her engagement ring and both her and Mark's wedding bands, craft a tiny gold Ginkgo leaf charm to hang on a necklace and gave one to each girl. I went with Ali to pick them up at the jeweler and immediately fell in love with them.
I told Nick that afternoon about how much I loved the necklaces and mentioned that I would like to have Steven make me one before we left Athens. Keep in mind that this was in April of 2012.
Fast forward to February 2013 and this little beauty is staring at me from the inside of an Aurum box sitting on my hospital bed :) My very own, very special, Ginkgo leaf charm to commemorate the birth of our first child.
(Really?! I mean, cue the tears. SO. PRETTY.)
There's a whole life represented in this little charm. The Ginkgo leaves are special because the Ginkgo tree is the City Tree of Athens, our sweet little town, and there are two "parent" leaves and one "baby" leaf to represent our new family of three. The gem is an amethyst, Alden's birth stone, and it was all hand-crafted by a local artist, an important gesture of support for our community. All of these things tell a story about us; who we are, what we love and how our lives fit into this place we call home. I am, still, just overcome with happiness when I look at my beautiful little necklace :)
But back to the thoughtful, loving, and sneaky part...
I was completely surprised. Like, completely. He had managed to have a necklace custom designed and made by a business that is literally across the street from my office (like, I can see their store from our windows), manage to go there at least twice to OK the design and see the charm, plus have multiple phone conversations with Steven, and pay for it without me finding out. That is some serious sneaky talent ;)
*I would also like to point out that Nick had the foresight to tell Steven to order both a January and February birthstone (since our due date was Feb. 8 and you never know what can happen) and that Nick would call him to let him know which stone to set when Alden got here. We just barely made it into February and Steven had just finished setting the stone either the day before or the day of Alden's birth.
On top of being surprised to get a gift in the first place, I was taken aback at how thoughtful it was of him to remember how much I had loved Ali's bridesmaids' necklaces even after almost a year had gone by. To find a way to incorporate my love of trees with my love of Athens and the beginning of our journey into parenthood all in one piece of jewelry is impressive. So many brownie points for that man ;)
So, here I am, almost 5 months later, finally bragging on my amazing husband. Way to go, honey :) Every time I wear it, it makes me happy and I'm so grateful to you for finding such a beautiful way to remember the day we welcomed our little Alden into our lives. I love you.
much love, L&N
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