Kelly's Gift to Wendy

I posted this in my Free Form blog, but since it is about Wendy and Kelly, I thought I should repost it here.

I've been meaning to post about the very sweet and long-planned gift Kelly gave Wendy for their 10th anniversary.  The anniversary and gift were in January.  As you can see, I'm a bit behind in my posting.

Wendy, having gotten a double whammy of the thrifty gene from both Wayne and I, and Kelly, who is also a very conservative spender, rarely did anything more than exchange cards for their anniversary.  Oh, sure...there might be a dinner out, but not much more than that.  I have put an alert on my phone so that I can subtly remind Wendy of the approaching anniversary.  I'm not saying she's the absent-minded professor...she knows the date when they married, she just doesn't always know what the current date is.  One year she totally forgot until Kelly gave her his card.  Another year she had selected a card for Kelly a number of weeks before the anniversary, then couldn't find it on the actual day.

This year, a few days before their anniversary, Kelly sent me a text asking if I could watch Zane for them.  For about a week this summer.  He explained that for Wendy's gift he wanted to take her on a trip...just the two of them.  He said that he had been stashing money for almost 10 years with this gift in mind.  Every money gift he has gotten for the last 10 years has gone into this stash which he kept in the safe deposit box.  He had already talked to his mom who agreed to watch one of them, probably Gage.

I was blown away.  Just think of it...he has planned this gift for nearly 10 years!  And kept it secret until now.  The only thing he had told Wendy was that he had an envelope in the safe deposit box that she wasn't to look into.  She agreed not to, but insisted that he write some kind of note and place it inside the envelope so that if something happened to him, she would understand what it was.  And so he wrote a brief note on a post-it and placed it inside the envelope.

Kelly presented the money to Wendy when they went out to dinner.  I had warned him to take some tissues because I thought there would be tears.  He texted me that not only were there no tears, she laughed!  She texted me, "I'm rich!"  The enormity of his commitment did not escape her.  She's rich, indeed, in the way it matters most.

They have made their reservations for a trip summer.  Wendy is working out to tone up and has purchased two new bikinis.  Kelly, of course, would be hard-pressed to improve his physique...so, he might only have to buy a new swimsuit.  I know they are going to enjoy themselves immensely.