July 22nd – Birthdays

11 years ago today, I gave my wife a piece of paper, upon which was written:

“Hello, my name is Echo, and for you birthday you can have one of my pups” followed by a picture of the lovely Echo.

She had a litter of 13 flatcoat pups, on July 22nd and after a couple of visits Denise chose one. She had owned a flatcoat many years before, and had already decided to name the pup Velvet, prior to choosing the pup, so imagine the surprise when we discovered that our pup’s pedigree name was already registered as ‘Willowswind Velvet Maple’. It was meant to be…..

The only downside is, there is no way in which I could possibly surpass this gift, but these days we value presence, over presents. Being around loved ones and creating happy memories together is worth more than any material gift.

So, my lovely wife, and our ‘special’ girl Velvet shared their birthday again today, in the sunshine with friends over for lunch. Time to sit and chill this evening and reflect on how lucky we are.