Whenever we get invited to a wedding, I always do a little mental wrestling about what gift to give to the bride and groom. I admit in the past few years, I haven’t been very creative, cautiously sticking to the Macy’s bridal registry or Target Club Wedd lists. Even more frequently, I’ve just bought a gift card or written a check and stuck it in a card.
But back when Tom and I got married in 1973, wedding guests were left up to their own devices. We didn’t have Club Wedd or scanning guns to zap bar codes at Pottery Barn. The guests just bought or made gifts that they would like to receive themselves, figuring we might like them, too. That’s why 35 years later, our rag drawer includes old, worn-out wedding towels and sheets of the most bizarre rainbow of colors—purple, avocado green, flowered pumpkin orange, striped gold and brown, flowered chartreuse, and electric blue. You know, the good old ‘70s hippie colors.
But back when Tom and I got married in 1973, wedding guests were left up to their own devices. We didn’t have Club Wedd or scanning guns to zap bar codes at Pottery Barn. The guests just bought or made gifts that they would like to receive themselves, figuring we might like them, too. That’s why 35 years later, our rag drawer includes old, worn-out wedding towels and sheets of the most bizarre rainbow of colors—purple, avocado green, flowered pumpkin orange, striped gold and brown, flowered chartreuse, and electric blue. You know, the good old ‘70s hippie colors.
However, here’s what I find the most surprising after all these years. A few of the gifts I was the least excited about as a blushing 24-year-old bride have become some of my most prized possessions. These are items that in 2009, I would never dare give to a bride; but back in 1973, somebody decided that Tom and I couldn’t live without them. And they were right; the gifts have become treasures.
Below are two of the gifts that in my shallow youth, I didn’t appreciate nearly enough. But better late than never—they are now two of my favorites:
Porcelain figurine of an Old Man and an Old Woman
Schumann Arzberg Plate with a “Wild Rose” Pattern
And it’s kind of spooky: we look a little more like the little old man and little old woman in the porcelain figurine with every passing day.
1 comment:
I like how you waited until these items became treasures. I have a set of Pyrex clear glass bowls from 1973 Hedmarken bridal shower that I have never used but wouldn't dream of getting rid of.
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