One Final Gift

Christmas 2013 - The year I was disappointing by the gifts my husband gave me. Or rather what my husband didn't give me.

Here's what I opened Christmas morning: a DVD set, The Runners Bible (which isn't for runners at all, but rather people on the go, and a made-in-our garage medal holder. Actually the previous statement isn't accurate. The medal hanger wasn't complete (no way to hang it on the wall ironically) nor was it wrapped.

I know, I know. First World Problems.

Our theme is supposed to be Want, Need, Wear, Read. However my "wear" didn't arrive until the day after Christmas - darn those untimely Amazon drones! On the 26th I opened pair of black arm sleeves for running - exactly like my mother got me a couple years ago. He misunderstood a conversation I had with his father over Thanksgiving and thought I needed a pair.

Still my big gift was no where to be found.

We visited his parents the weekend after Christmas. We spent New Years at my sister's house. When we arrived home, there was a package on our front porch. Finally. Only it was an iPad mini, sent to him by a business associate. 2013 came to a close, his actions led to an oopsie that led to my ass breaking my computer AND no super-cool-i-promise-its-coming gift.

 my precious!

Finally, Jay got on the computer to live chat with the company he had ordered from. They assured him it had just been shipped, but offered no explanation as to why their "Be there by Christmas" guarantee translated into January 2014.

A week into the new year passed with nary a sign of the gift.

Yesterday, as I was participating in Throwback Thursday and realized it was the 3rd anniversary of my first marathon. I had all but given up on the promised gift ever arriving, but sure enough it came in the mail. Jay draped it over the loft wall to properly display his creation.

One evening, while I was with the KTC Socialites, he had gathered up all the race bibs he could find. Due to all of our moving they weren't all in the same location. He took pictures of each individual bid (he could find) then cropped the pictures to upload into a design. He found the runner clip art, and the following quote which lines the top and bottom of the blanket:

"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."

ME: Where did that quote come from?

HIM: The Internet.

(A quick Google search attributes the quote to Dr. George Sheehan.)

When I first started running, I took great care writing on the back of my bibs - distance, time, date, weather conditions. He was able to arrange and appropriately label according those markings.

The 5Ks were positioned towards the top, and the other distances were placed near the bottom.

Bibs of the same race, multiple years were also positioned alongside one another.

My 2 marathons were displayed prominently in the top right corner. The half marathons were places in-line below - grouping together those I have run multiple years.

And a dedication on the side:

To My love and favorite runner Brooke {Middle} {Maiden} {Last} from Jason {Middle} {Last}

I asked why he didn't just lie and say it was my marathon 3rd anniversary gift. Or save it for Valentine's and give it to me when I'm not expecting it, counting it belated. Then he pointed out the date in the bottom right corner. Only I didn't look, really look until taking pictures for this blog post. 

(For the record, neither did he.)

BEST. GIFT. EVA!

PS - This truly makes me love the blanket even more. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I'm a heartless robot. Or maybe its the sheer irony of how he labored hours upon end to make this gift perfect. Quite possibly its because I foresee a future of Christ-a-mases in which I giggle, laugh, and think about how much my husband loves me.