Last week, my husband went to New York City for several days to visit a dear friend. They spent their days in Manhattan, seeing the sights and enjoying their friendship.
He came home on Saturday, bearing gifts. The kids were so excited as Daddy handed them each something special he had picked out. Then he turned to me and said he could give me my gift now, or at Valentine's Day. I chose to open it then. Before I opened it, though, he had to explain that he had employed "restrained splurging" when he bought it. We have been on a modified spending freeze for a few months, spending on "extras" infrequently. "I could have spent much more", he said, but he wanted to get me something special, so he chose to do it on a smaller scale.
I opened the gift - a Sabon hand treatment. Sabon is a high end body shop in NYC. My husband and friend explored the store, looking for a gift for me. He wanted to get me the whole hand line, he said, but since that would set us back hundreds, he chose the most important product out of the lineup. He knew how dry and cracked my hands get from changing diapers and cleaning and cooking, and he wanted to help heal them.
I was touched, and I enjoy the treatment very much. Several days later I saw the charge from Sabon on our Discover bill. It was a lot (for us) to spend on such an item. But, instead of feeling stressed about the money, I instead felt loved. My husband, though he knows money is tight, wanted to splurge on my work-worn hands. He showed me his love with this gift.
And my hands and I thank him.
