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My fiancée surprised me last week with a 30th birthday gift that was so special that
I have to tell you about it. We've been engaged for about four years now and have
recently purchased a house together. Sandra just finished law school and my IT
service company is just beginning to take off, so we lead very busy and hectic lives.
Some of the most enjoyable times the two of us have spent together have been when
we both take a week off in the spring and in the fall and head for our favorite
camping grounds in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We share a love for fishing
and hiking, and several years ago we discovered a remote private fishing camp that
we return to each season. We have a standing agreement to leave work, studies,
family and the rest of the world behind and simply share the beauties of Nature alone
together. Cell phone reception is poor to non-existent at our fishing camp, and
except for emergencies we cut ourselves off completely from the rest of the world.
Needless to say, we don't tell anyone the exact location of our private hideaway, and
it's been a well-guarded secret for years now.
My 30th birthday fell about two weeks after our return from our fall visit to
our woodland retreat, where the fishing and the weather had been especially fine.
Sandra had invited several friends over for dinner to celebrate my 30th birthday but
I wasn't expecting any birthday gifts other than the expected new tie she gave me
first thing in the morning. I had dropped a big hint some time ago about exactly
the tie I wanted, and it was just right.
After drinks and dinner and a lot of ribbing over turning 30, Sandra presented
me with a large wrapped package saying, "Now for your real birthday present."
On unwrapping my gift I found a beautiful original oil painting of Sandra and me in
wading boots fly fishing in our favorite stream in our favorite location, with the
sun shinning and the autumn leaves blazing their colors around us. The likeness was
exact and the colors and details remarkable. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Here's what my amazing wife-to-be had done. She had sent two color digital
photographs - one I had taken of her fishing and one she had taken of me
fishing in the same location, both of us smiling at the camera as we took each
other's photos - to an online art gallery site called www.paintyourlife.com.
They had cleverly combined the two images and had their own artists actually paint
an original oil painting from the composite digital photograph. The photographs
were from our most recent trip and I hadn't even had time to upload them to my
computer as Sandra had "conveniently' mislaid the camera since our return. So the
surprise was complete in every respect and I couldn't have been happier with any
other birthday gift in the world!
This beautiful oil painting of the two of us in our private heaven will be hung in
our new home over the fireplace and will be a constant reminder of our treasured
times together. The painting arrived already framed and ready to hang. We are
both still amazed at how quickly PaintYourLife was able to create and ship the painting,
which is well on its way to becoming our first family heirloom.
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