A Special Invitation for You
I would like to share a most special invitation with you. This is probably the most significant invitation I have ever sent, or ever will send. But I already know you will not mark this date on your calendar… because the event has already happened.
July 19, 2001. My wedding day.
I love this invitation! What I want to share is why. I have always thought it was classy. I still adore the pretty paper on which our wedding invitation AND the matching envelopes were printed. Somehow, a pretty envelope just prepares the guest for something special. It’s hard to show in photos, but the paper has beautiful, embossed flowers on all sides and the card opened to reveal the meaningful message. I thought the clipped corners and trim were a unique and unexpected touch.
As wedding dresses, photography styles, invitation wording, and other wedding traditions change over the years, I sometimes wonder what I would do differently. Yet twenty years later, memories of that day still make me smile.
That’s what memories do: they make us happy.
Twenty years of memories. Many more years of smiles, as we relieve the memories. Love is the reason the simple invitation is framed and hanging on our wall. (As a sidenote, I love how my handsome husband most often chooses to sit in the chair just below that frame. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of him “now” sitting in my mind’s eye reminiscing of him “then” and it makes me love him even more. That also makes me happy.)
That’s what memories do: they make us happy.
On the opposite wall, just above a matching chair, hangs another set of memories from our grandparents who have passed. The first is an item from my husband’s grandmother. Born and raised in Switzerland, she was classy and sassy with a heavy accent. The birds are meant to bring good luck and a promise to return to the native land. To be honest, I was especially excited to hang her Swiss souvenir because of the color, three-dimensionality, and round shape. Any time you can mix up the shapes and sizes of frames or objects on a wall, Do it! It adds interest and personality to a flat surface.
Below the birds from Grandma Ringger is a small, square, framed piece of wallpaper. My Grandpa Ryskamp was a professional wallpaper hanger, and his house was full of wallpaper in every room. After Grandpa died, my cousin bought his house and when he and his wife remodeled, they saved a square of Grandpa’s wallpaper for every member of the family. I love how this wallpaper takes me back to childhood summer days of swimming, playing games and eating cereal with my Grandpa. Another object, another shape, another batch of memories, another round of smiles.
That’s what memories do: they make up happy.
I started this post promising you an invitation. My invitation to you is, Hang Those Memories!
