Fifteen years ago today, an event happened that changed the course of my life.
What? Of course I’m not exaggerating… I’d call: meeting, getting married, getting our own home, having three gorgeous kids; all quite life-changing, wouldn’t you say?
So yes, it was on Saturday 22 May 1999 that Caroline and I met for the first time. I’d travelled 180 miles up the M1 from Slough to meet with Caroline at the place she worked. I picked her up from there and we went on our first date to Valley Centertainment at Sheffield for bowling, a movie (possibly?) and a meal.
Anyway, I’m not going to recount the events of that day because I’ll probably get something wrong (if I haven’t already!)
According to Wikipedia, the Gemstone Gift for a 15 year anniversary (ok, yes, it’s for wedding anniversaries… but what makes this any less significant?) is Rhodolite, a semi-precious gemstone with the chemical formula (Mg,Fe)3Al2(SiO4)3.
Wait, wut?
For our 8th wedding anniversary, I bought Caroline a Tourmaline pendant… so I wanted to do something different for today. By now, she’s hopefully already discovered the small grey box that I placed on her bedside table this morning, so she would have already found the 15 Rhodolite stones that I’ve placed in a cute little bag.
Whilst 15 pieces of silicate pyrope may not be the most exciting gift in the world, the meaning and definition behind what it represents means a heck of a lot to me.