Last week marked our fourth anniversary of marriage.  All over the country there are friends and family shaking their heads and muttering, "I thought for sure that I’d win the pool once they started building that house."  But no!  We forge on through the sawdust with maximum laughter and minimal bickering. 

What gifts did we exchange on this grand occasion?  So glad you asked.

Michael gave Cherie giant slabs from a large piece of tree, thereby removing an eyesore from the property months ahead of schedule:

Slabs

He also gave her painted trim in the nursery:

Trim

(More on that project later.)

And, as if that weren’t enough to send your average female heart pitter-pattering, he also gave her the beginnings of a kitchen table:

Table

Meanwhile, Cherie gave Michael a new runner for the upstairs hallway in order to cut down on the amount of dog skidding on the wood floors:

Rug

You can see that it is highly effective, since she couldn’t get the dogs to move off it for a second so she could get a picture.

We know that there are people out there who expect flowers and jewelry and whatnot for anniversaries and we are sure they are very nice people.  But for us, chunks of wood and non-skidding dogs are about as romantic as it gets.

Is that really so wrong?