My anniversary gift for Niek is complete, and I've really surprised myself with the finished product. I would never have had the skill or the courage to do this project without seeing your projects, reading your instructions, receiving your advice, and just sort of soaking up inspiration from your many skills. So everyone, thank you!



Our anniversary is on Friday. It's so strange to think we've only been together for five years. The connection between us is so right that it feels very odd to realize that we have actually only spent a fairly small percentage of our lives together.

Niek changed my life the first time I met him (which was about 7 years ago), and that's not something I say lightly. I was in a terrible place in my life and had pretty much given up hope of ever feeling happy again. How is it possible that simply talking and laughing with someone for a few hours can turn around years' worth of depression and disappointment? I've often wondered if he's magic :-). After that first meeting, I began to actively change my life - which was terrifying to do, as I was living in a foreign country with a baby and no family near at hand. By the time circumstances conspired to throw Niek and I into the same orbit again about a year later, I was still licking my wounds but things were going a lot better. And a year later, after nearly daily e-mails during which we became friends and even dared show our less charming traits, we finally went out on our first date. Neither of us can even remember what we ate! (Though Niek does remember what I was wearing!) The experience of meeting him face-to-face again was like coming home, but to a home I never knew I had. He's given me the world, and this gift shows him that he has my heart.