The Perfect Gift

My birthday is coming up this next week. I will be 29 and I have decided this is going to be a great year. I will not be filled with dread and despair as I approach the big 3-0. It is going to be a good, no a great year! Rodney decided that we would celebrate my birthday today just in case he has to be out of town on his actual birthday. He arranged for his sister to babysit for us and made a list of restaurants for me to choose from. I was torn between Perry's which I have heard very good things about and Gloria's. I chose Gloria's at the last minute and was not disappointed. I love fried plaintains and make them often for myself at home but they were so good at Gloria's. I also got a tamale and a pupusa which is basically a handmade tortilla with pork and cheeses stuffed inside. It was all delicious. I really wanted to try the flan but I was too full and I opted out instead. But I will have to go back and try it sometime. We then preceded to Northpark mall and window shopped for a little while and then went to the movies. It has been so long since we have been able to go to dinner and a movie. It was quite lovely and relaxing and wonderful. We saw August Rush and I thought it was very good even though it did not receive great reviews. As a parent who is totally in love with her child I was drawn to the storyline and the beauty of the bond between a mother and her son and how they find each other again through music. The music was pretty awesome too. Afterwards we bought some gelatto and strolled back to the car. It has been a most perfect day. Earlier in the day I got to open my birthday presents and had the biggest birthday surprise ever. I actually already knew one of the things Rodney had bought me because I received an email last week telling me about a shipment sent out to our house from Target. Naturally I opened it because it was my email. Apparently Rod had ordered this gift from Target under my account so the email got sent to my address. He went into my account and deleted the first email but Target sent another one when the item actually shipped which is the email I opened. Well it was a spice rack which is great because I really need one for the pantry but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. However, Rodney hinted around that there was something else too. So I opened up the spice rack first and patiently twiddled my thumbs while we oohed and ahhed over it's amazing features. It really is going to organize the spices milling around in my pantry. And then the moment came. He asked me to close my eyes and sternly said "no peeking". Well, I started giggling like a little girl because i just couldn't help myself. Part of me thought that I might be getting a new vacuum cleaner because I have been complaining a little (alot) about the tired and worn out one we have had since we got married. So with my eyes closed and no peeking he led me out to the sunroom and this is what I saw....



and this is what I did...



I knelt down and laid hands on my new pottery wheel and started sobbing. My husband blew me away this year with the perfect gift. I have wanted a wheel for a really long time but they are quite expensive so we never pursued getting one. I did bid for one on ebay but I lost. I never expected that this is what he got me for my birthday and I was so wonderfully surprised. I took ceramics the last three years of high school and I loved it. I was not great at it by far but I made some really nice pieces and entered a few in an art show my senior year. I was the girl walking around with dried clay on my jeans but I didn't care because it was something I really enjoyed. After high school I took several classes in college also. I even toyed with the idea of majoring in ceramics but it just didn't seem practical at the time so I went for nursing instead which is very practical. As much as I love my job as a neonatal nurse there are times that I regret that I didn't pursue an art degree. I often wonder where that road would have taken me. Once I started nursing school I stopped doing pottery because I was too busy and I didn't have the resources since I wasn't in a ceramics class anymore. And the rest is history as the saying goes. I haven't touched clay since. But I have always dreamed of having my own little studio where I could make pieces for fun or even enter into a craft fair or something. But like I said it is kind of expensive to get started so it was just one of those dreams of mine that I didn't expect to happen anytime soon. It is not just a pottery wheel but the beginning of a fulfilled dream and that is why it is the most perfect gift.