I have a confession to make – I love gifts. In fact, I love gifts so much that when someone gets me a gift that doesn’t make any sense I actually feel offended. Now, before you stop reading and think I’m some sort of stuck up brat – just know that I love GIVING gifts more than I like to receive them.
Gifts are my love language.
Sometimes this can be a bit tricky because not to brag, but I am awesome at giving gifts. However, when my husband and I were first dating I had to play nice. I had to make sure he knew that I was grateful for everything he had ever given me. I had to, well, LIE.
Before my husband, I had never had a boyfriend. I had never celebrated a Valentine’s Day that didn’t include watching the Notebook by myself eating one or more pints of Ben and Jerry’s.
So, this first Valentine’s Day together was pretty important. I may or may not have truly hyped it up. My husband is half Japanese and his mother was sent to an internment camp. I had found a photograph of an internment camp taken by Ansel Adams. I mean that’s pretty amazing, right? I got it framed and everything. I was so excited to give it to him! I was also really excited to see what he had for me.
The time came for us to open our gifts. He opened mine and was shocked. He couldn’t believe I had found this photograph that we had spoken about.
And then it was MY turn!
He handed me a small box. Jewelry!! I wasn’t sure what kind of jewelry it would be, but what girl doesn’t want jewelry from her boyfriend?! I opened the box and saw… an evil eye bracelet. It was hideous. At that moment I did what any amazing girlfriend would do. I said, “THANK YOU! I LOVE IT!” I may have had to yell to really sell him on the fact that I loved it, when in fact I was disappointed, enraged, and hurt.
He wanted me to put it on right away, which I reluctantly did. So for about a month, I managed to wear the evil eye bracelet.
And then I couldn’t take it any longer and I “lost it.”
That’s right. I told my boyfriend that I lost his precious Valentine’s Day gift. I made up some crazy story about being at work and how it probably got lost on a job site I was working. So that was that. The damage was done. I no longer had to stare at that beast of a bracelet around my wrist. Yes, I felt some guilt, but for the most part, I was just happy to not have to wear it.
However, because I had the most amazing boyfriend in the entire world, he felt awful that I had lost my very first Valentine’s Day gift. So, what did he do? He bought me another one! Because as I had told him when I got it, I LOVED IT!
So now I had two evil eye bracelets.
And the second one was actually worse than the first. There was really only one thing left to do. I had to come clean. I did it in the most polite way I possibly could. I told him, “Please don’t buy me any more jewelry unless it’s an engagement ring.”
Shockingly he didn’t break up with me! Anyone else have a crazy Valentine’s Day gift story?
