Posted 1/3/2025 9:51 AM (GMT -5)
At the recent family Christmas party at my cousin's house in Ocala, about 40 miles south of Gainesville, Florida, here where I am, there was something I noticed in the dining room.
Inside a fancy china cabinet, there was a rather old-looking ornately decorated wooded bowl. I was informed by my cousin that one of my great-grandfathers had given it one year as an anniversary gift to his wife, my great-grandmother.
It seems the two of them were following a custom of their time all those years ago, one maybe not so popular anymore, of giving a present to one's spouse on each year's wedding anniversary, but with a twist.
The twist was that the gift-giving would follow a pattern, depending on what year of the marriage it was. That is, the gift would have something to do with one of the following items, specifically the one that matched whatever anniversary year it was:
1. paper
2. cotton
3. leather
4. fruit or flowers
5. wood
6. candy or iron
7. wool or copper
8. bronze
9. pottery
10. tin or aluminum
etc., for years and years, all the way up to 60 years (which would have had something to do with diamonds, being the "diamond jubilee" anniversary year).
So the ornate wooden bowl would have represented an anniversary of five years at that time for my great-grandparents.
At that point, and I'm not really quite sure why this arguably rather odd, even silly, thought came to me.
Maybe it was thinking about the new year now upon us, and dealing with anniversaries of various kinds that will come up over the coming months.
But I thought to myself, "Hey! Wouldn't it be a clever idea if we did the same thing for subsequent anniversaries of being told we no longer had the PCa beast, that a pronouncement of "No Evidence of Disease" had for one more year been made for us, and that as a result an appropriate gift would be bestowed upon us by spouse, relatives, or friends, to commemorate that fact!"
But in this case, the anniversary gifts would be a little more appropriate for guys, things such as
PCa anniversary year and corresponding gift:
1. fancy Swiss Army knife
2. Cardigan sweater
3. beer-of-the-month club membership
4. bowling ball
5. golf shoes
6. fancy lawn mower
7. massage chair
8. Gucci shoes
9. Harley-Davidson
10. Florida vacation
(Note that the gifts get a a little more expensive as the years go by, symbolizing the significance of remaining disease-free more and more over years and years).
Maybe even have a little party to present the gift, with hearty congratulatory handshakes all around, as the gift is presented!
Maybe a bit too silly?
Oh well, just a thought.
But if you would like to suggest other guy-appropriate gifts for the above PCa list, the one above being only initial suggestions, please feel free to post them below.
Who knows, maybe this idea will catch on!
Or maybe not.
Have a good weekend, everybody!