May 17: L O V E letters

Happiness is... being able to still give and receive love letters after 8 years of being together, almost six years of marriage, 2 kids and all the problems of a lost economy. And not just on those few days that society says we should (You know who I'm talking about you Valentine, Sweeties, Christmas, New Years, Birthday people!). My wife sent me a love note yesterday and she also left me one today :-) But it wasn't anything written or on paper... it was a little silly looking Gnome casually chilling out on the shower rack waiting for me to notice it.

It doesn't talk, it can't play music, it doesn't move, there are no messages written on it... it's just a silly Gnome and the story behind it. This said Gnome was given as a wedding present to my wife and I from a friend. We took the Gnome with us on our honeymoon camping trip (At Indian Springs State Park in the U.P.) to take a silly picture of our Gnome to show the friend when we got back from our trip. It started as one picture on the dashboard crossing the Mackinaw bridge and then turned into a rather memorable, fun, "one of the highlights" of our trip kind of game. That silly Gnome is hidden somewhere in every single picture we took during our honeymoon. It came everywhere we went... in the car, in the tent, on our hikes and even at the stores and restaurants. It was a great challenge to sometimes discreetly and sometimes indiscreetly place this thing in every picture! Like this:

For a long time after our honeymoon we would hide the Gnome on each other. Placing it in a work or lunch bag, on a shelf or desk, or chilling out on a shower rack. It was our little game... a silent love letter that we would give to each other to remind us of our marriage, that wonderful trip, having fun together and our love for each other. Kids keep you hopping, toys and trinkets liter your living spaces, and sometimes a poor silly Gnome goes M.I.A. But today, there he was chilling on the shower rack... and in a way he did speak to me... and he did have something written on him... and for a few minutes he took me on that trip again and made me remember a lot of wonderful things. Especially how much I still love and appreciate my wife! Thanks Wunderbar!

-mark