Omens and Superstitions

Following our cute little wedding in Virginia, my new wife and I hosted a reception/party a few days later for our family and friends in Connecticut.  For table centerpieces, we decided that I would go to Home Depot and pick up whatever cute little potted flower arrangements they had on sale.   As luck would have it, what they had were nice little cactus arrangements.  I bought one for each of the tables, with one larger one to put on the main table.  At the end of the reception, we gave away all of the pots except the one on the main table...that one we kept for ourselves. 

That pot has been through a lot...a week in the back of a U-Haul trailer, going from Connecticut to Seattle...2 different apartments and a house in the Kitsap area, then a 250 mile move from Belfair to Richland.  At one point, there were 5 different varieties of cacti and succulents in the pot...soon, there was only one left on there.  For some silly reason, my goal was always to get that cactus to the 10-year point...I would have felt strangely worried if something had happened to that cactus.

Despite everything though, much like the love my wife and I feel for each other, that cactus is still growing:

From a purely commercial standpoint, my wife and I were good to each other for our anniversary.  My wife was sorely lacking in the diamond stud earring department...I had wanted to wait until I could buy her a nice pair...and so I finally did.  3/4 carat total weight...I'm not sure of the color or clarity, but they sparkle like diamonds are supposed to, and they are big enough to catch attention, but not so big/gaudy that I feel the need to put an armed guard on my wife. 

To go with her matched earrings, she got me a matched set of Kelty Redwing 3100 backpacks.  We have always been pretty good about keeping supplies on hand, and supplies in the a plastic box in the wife's car...but we have never been really good about keeping 3-day BOB's ready to go.  These Kelty bags look to be ideal for what I want.  They are a little more expensive than military surplus bags, but I like the fact that they don't scream 'Mall Ninja' or 'Operator'. 

Sometimes, love is practical.