Happy

This makes me happy.

*I blurred our last name...the plaque doesn't really look like this!*click to enlarge...it's worth it

It also makes Craig happy.
So what makes us both so happy? It's actually Craig's anniversary present from me - albeit a little late, but it's not totally my fault. I didn't have it ordered on our anniversary, but I did have everything in place. I need to back up a bit to tell this story.

Craig graduated from West Point in 1996, but his senior year in college, his mom was diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis was not good. Apparently, it's tradition to present your parents with your senior saber at graduation as a thank you. Craig was not sure his mom would make it to graduation (she very gratefully did), so he ordered the display case and got everything ready to present it to his parents at the Christmas prior to his graduation. This left him without a piece of his uniform - his saber, so he had to buy another one. This extra saber has been stored for more than 10 years now. The original is still on display in Craig's dad's house.

For as long as I remember, Craig has wanted to display this saber. For the past two years, I've been looking for a display case. I know my husband. He's extremely particular and I knew I would have to confront him prior to making such a big purchase. Well, as it turns out, he wanted the EXACT-SAME-CASE that he bought at West Point in 1996. The problem is that he bought it from the cadet store and only cadets are allowed in the store. In addition, West Point isn't exactly accessible and even if we were to visit New York, there's no guarantee we would be able to go to the cadet store and purchase this. Craig said he would not hesitate to "harass a cadet" to go into the store for him if he ever got the chance. At his 10 year reunion, he struck out and the store was closed. And for two years, I have tried to hunt down this case. Anytime a gift giving opportunity came up, I would scour the internet trying to find this case. Christmas, birthday, anniversary...they all came and went and I just could not find this case. I repeatedly called the cadet store in an attempt to order one, but they never even picked up the phone.

To the internet I went. And went. And went. And went. And every time I failed. Until recently. I was cutting it close this year for our anniversary and almost didn't have anything for Craig! The day before July 7, I hit the lottery. I found the exact same case. Just to confirm, I called the company and asked them if they were the vendor to West Point in 1996. I knew it was a long shot to ask, but I had to confirm. The answer thrilled me because they were the vendor at that time. They now primarily deal with the Air Force Academy, but 13 years ago, West Point was their main client. And R&R Woodcraft was a WONDERFUL company to work with. I really can't say enough positive things about them.

The look on Craig's face was priceless when I showed him the print out of the case on our anniversary. He was stunned. Shocked. And kept telling me it was the best present he's ever received. He'll never know how many hours I searched the internet to find this case, and I'll never know why it was so important for him to have this exact case. What I did know was that Craig wanted to display his saber. He mentioned it on many occasions and would even pull it out from time to time when we went to the cabin. If it's important to him, then it's important to me.

In the end, he did end up making some changes to his case. We got cherry wood versus oak, and the engraving plate has laser etching on the wood. The original he presented to his parents was just a plaque, so this is slightly different.

Seeing him thrilled to get this case is better than any tangible gift for me.

I love you dearly, Craig. You'll never know just how much I love you.