It was an especially cold and rainy October day a couple of years ago.  My Dad and I had just finished checking out a really amazing contemporary art exhibit that was passing through town and before heading out for a late lunch, we decided to make a quick stop at the gallery’s bookstore.  While I was lingering amongst the bookshelves of the interior design section, I looked over and noticed my Dad admiring a sculpture sitting in a display case.  And it wasn’t just a passing admiration either…it was the kind of admiration that had him mentally rearranging his apartment in order to find the perfect home for it!

A few minutes later, while my Dad headed over to collect our bags from the coat check, I frantically ran to the cashier {likely trampling some small children and a few senior citizens in my midst!} and desperately asked them to help me find a way to a.) put the sculpture aside so that I could buy it later and b.) ensure that my father couldn’t buy it for himself!  All the while, this had to occur within the allotted three minutes that we had before he returned from the coat check!  I’m pretty sure that they were wishing they saw delightful customers like me everyday!

A bit dramatic? Likely!  A bit frantic even? Absolutely!  But this is perhaps a perfect time to mention that my father is, without a doubt, the most difficult person to shop for in the history of the world!  Not only is my father a man of impeccable taste but he is also a man with highly specific taste.  In turn, we find ourselves every year around this time, sitting at our dining room table, scratching our heads and wondering what the heck to get him for Christmas and his birthday.  It’s truly painful!

So to be standing a mere ten feet away from something that my father actually loved and wanted was a rare moment in ones’ life…kind of like witnessing a solar eclipse!

In the end, I didn’t mind being the drama queen of the gallery bookstore that day because two months later, on Christmas morning, when my Dad finally opened that beautiful sculpture, his expression and excitement was priceless, and totally worth any innocent bystanders that may have been injured in the purchasing of his gift!!

The point is that few things in life are as amazing as the perfect gift; the kind of gift that you just know that special someone is going to love; the kind of gift that makes you want to give it to them two months early because you’re just as excited; the kind of gift that makes you put all social etiquette aside in pursuit of its purchase.  That kind of gift!

So when Jocelyne and Dan’s wedding party contacted me because they wanted to purchase a photo shoot for their newly engaged friends…I couldn’t help but overflow with excitement.  It’s a great thing to receive the perfect gift…an even better thing to give the perfect give…but truly nothing compares to actually being the perfect gift!

Jocelyne and Dan…congratulations on your engagement!  You guys are simply too cute for words!  I even have the pictures to prove it…