I thought I’d entertain you all today with my explain of the following goal in my Going for 101 in 1001 list:

12.  Resume my “Valentine” journal for my hubby and present to him as a gift at the end of this project.

A year or two after we got married, I purchased this oh-so-unique journal from Barnes & Noble.  Yes, my husband accuses me often of having a memory like an elephant.   I remember exactly where I bought it.

Isn’t it cute?   In my newlywed bliss, my grand plan was to start a journal listing all of the things I love about my husband – qualities, things he does for me, anything that comes to mind, really.   At our five, ten, or fifteen-year anniversary, I would then present it to him as a gift. and I would be showered with countless words of love and appreciation, diamonds, and…and…and…  

(Self-less humility is something the Holy Spirit and I are working on.  Bear with me.)

One fateful night, a few months after said journal was purchased, an argument ensued between us head-over-heels-in-love-except-when-you-do-this lovers.  (Hey, we were still learning about this thing called marriage.)  Here is where my elephant-sized-memory comes into play.  

The argument was progressing nicely until Chris said the ill-fated words, “You never appreciate anything I do!”

I saw red.  Then I saw a red journal.  With a heart on it.   And a list of things I had already written.

To show him how much I appreciated him.  Yes, I sure did, too.  I all but threw it at him.

Guess who won that argument?  One guess.

Anyhow, I was uninspired to continue writing in that journal after that incident.   It was a few years before I found it again after moving.  I wrote in it some more.  We moved again.  I found it again.  The cycle continues.  Then along comes The List.  

I have resumed The Great Love Journal Project.  He knows about it, but he’ll forget about it again by the time I decide it’s time to give it to him.  He has a wonderfully terrible memory that way.