Even though my birthday's not until June, I just got my present.
This year, Kim decided to surprise me with a painting that shows the view across the water from Fox Point. Unfortunately, I surprised her by picking up her cell phone a few months ago when it buzzed with a message from our sister-in-law (who just happens to be the artist). The message said it had a picture attached. Without thinking, I clicked on the picture. "Hey," I called out, "Deena just sent you a great picture she painted."
Of course, I wasn't supposed to have seen the picture then. But, I did. That's how I ended up hanging it in the kitchen today, a good month-and-a-half before my birthday. The painting looks great and I love it. I'm a little concerned, though, that there are going to be a couple family members who may not be big fans of it. That's because I hung it on the wall that used to hold our montage of family photos.
When we moved into this house, we decided to turn one of the walls in the kitchen into a display of pictures of the kids through the years. Over time, it grew to hold almost 50 photos. That wall has always been a focal point. Whenever someone came into the house for the first time, they invariably were drawn to it. "Who's that in this picture?" they'd ask. Or, "How old was so-and-so when this picture was taken?" And, most frequently, "Wasn't (s)he cute?"
As much as the kids sometimes claimed to embarassed by the picture wall, I'm pretty sure they liked it. In fact, after the two older ones headed off to college, I noticed that they started paying more attention to it when they're home on break. So, taking down those photos is probably going to get me in a bit of trouble.
Just in case, I've decided to cover myself. There's a new photo wall in the house. You can find it in the basement.