Gift

5th of March.


Receiving a gift is like getting a rare gemstone; any way you look at it, you see beauty refracted. 


I really like that verse, I was just reading it the other day, and I thought how very true it is, specially for someone like me who loves gifts :) 


Today was our 5th wedding anniversary!! This morning Marc came with a little bag of small gifts with a card. His words are always beautiful and no doubt there will always be tears as they go straight to my soul.
If you ever read the book "5 languages of love", you will understand how each person has its own "love language". My highest score is gifts by far, then quality time comes a close second. Basically I have a bit of all of them, except acts of service, which scored the lowest! 
So, for me when it comes to giving gifts, it comes naturally, but for Marc it's a real effort, which it makes it the more special.


We read that one of the traditional gifts for the 5th anniversary is wood. Marc hasn't really followed this in the past, unless I requested something specific ( which sometimes he wants to know ) 
So, days ago, I orderd a "love spoon" from wales, which I thought it was sweet, with our names and date of our wedding day, among other things.


I proceeded to open the little bag, and there was a handmade crystal candle holder, just the one (the other broke, Marc told me) and a little piece of wood in the form of a cross. I have to be honest with you, I wasn't very impressed! I fiddled with the cross thinking, why is he giving me this? He must have guessed my thoughts (he knows me really well!) And said: "I made it, you know". I looked at it a bit closer and saw engraved on the bottom: LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR. I get it, I do struggle with fear and he wrote that. "That's cool, thank you", I said. "No, No, I made the whole thing" he repeated to me. The whole thing?? You mean from a branch? What? I said. Suddenly it sank in, and I started to cry. He made it for me, from scratch. A warm feeling followed and I knew this was one of the best gifts anybody had ever given me.
The thoughtfulness, the hours and days he spend making it. I couldn't believe it! 
He told me the thought came to him one day and then when he went running to the woods, he started looking for a piece of branch that would work for the task. He had never carved anything before! He started to work on it on breaks in the studio while recording, then while mastering the album, sanding it during his train rides ( looking like a freak with a long branch with no form yet) etc...
When he was telling me this, I started to remember how I kept finding a hunting knife (a gift I had given him in Argentina) out of its original place and wondering why Marc kept on moving it? Once I saw it in his jacket pocket and kept insisting: why do you have the knife with you? And he responded: In case I needed to attack a dog. Really? Note: In Luton there's lots of macho men carrying their bull terriers dogs proudly around the streets, or running wild in parks. "No, just joking", he said, still being vague and not really answering my question. Thankfully I dropped the subject. Another time I found it on his night table the night before our anniversary! (Just re reading this, I chuckle because of the sound of it!! he he) 
Now, it all made sense! He had been preparing me the perfect gift. He could bought me any of the hints I have been dropping through the weeks(which, to be honest, he doesn't really get them anyway!) But this was by far the better. He explained that is a celtic holding cross, and it fits perfectly in my hands, the wood is soft to the touch and with one of my favorite verses written on it.  Also I discovered his hidden talent! The cross came out pretty good! I felt very special. I'm indeed very loved.