Still the one

"Which one do you like?" asked my husband of nearly 20 years as we surveyed the options before us.
I glanced over at him then paused, admiringly, flashing back to when we met during a summer internship in Ohio. His blonde hair was longer back then in his pre-engineering days. He was the carefree Californian guy who took me on my first camping trip and introduced me to Rush (and tolerated my Richard Marx and Madonna).

Back then, we were still young, carefree -- and poor. When he proposed on the lakefront at Northwestern the following summer, he didn't even have a ring (and I didn't care). Later, he sold one of his many beloved guitars to buy my small but shiny diamond engagement ring which up until now I have refused to trade up because it reminds me of where we came from when we first fell in love in the foothills of Kentucky. And I like taking trips abroad more than big rings.

Back to the question at hand, "Which one did I like?" I tried to focus. There were so many choices and price variations I was not sure it was going to be an easy decision, but something we would have to live with for at least another 10-15 years.

"They kind of all look the same," I answered, staring not at anniversary rings, but at dozens of white, beige and uber white toilet seats in the bathroom section of Lowe's. The only one that really stood out was a needlepoint design, pink and yellow butterfly pattern that any grandma would be proud to display to her guests before they lifted the lid. "That one is pretty," I teased half-jokingly.

We finally agreed that the plain, white, $9.95 models would do just fine so we splurged and bought two.

From there we checked out sinks, dishwashers, lamps and finally...mailboxes. A snowplow had knocked down our mailbox a few snowstorms back and the little red flag no longer stayed up when we had mail to go out. It also had a large dent in the side. Small stuff I know, but it bugged me. I wondered if the postal carrier was annoyed too. I wanted a new mailbox.

"Gray or white?" my beloved asked. "We could also paint it."

"White...just plain white," I replied, standing on tip toe to reach the box.

"Are you sure you don't want the deluxe model?" he asked, reaching to get it down. "It's bigger..."

"This one is just fine," I said.

And it was.










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