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(Continued...)
Just make sure when you select your box, to get a box big enough to hold all of the many years of collected trinkets. Our box is already quite full after just 5 years.
Next, I had to figure out what to place in the box. My choice was actually easy. When Todd proposed, it was "spur of the moment", so he did not have a ring. Instead, he slipped a gold twist tie on my finger. I wore the twist tie, complete with tape and staples, for over a month until I flew home for Thanksgiving and got "the ring". I took the twist tie, and placed it in the box my "real" ring came in, along with a note that read "Robyn's First Engagement Ring From Todd" and dated 10/22/95.
For Todd's turn the following year, he had a little trouble settling on one item to symbolize our first year of marriage. Instead, he chose three small items: the matchbook from the hotel we were married and honeymooned at, a McDonald's Monopoly game piece (we must have had a billion Arch Deluxes that year trying to win the grand prize), and our puppy's first tiny collar (which we got about two months after our wedding).
The next year it was my turn to fill the box again. I chose the lock and key that we used on our U-Haul when we moved to Florida. I painted the state of Florida on the lock, including the year, and attached this poem. For Christmas '98, Todd's turn came up again. He enclosed our first two Walt Disney World annual passes. We went more times in that first year than most families go in their lifetimes combined. I had never set foot inside of a Disney park until I turned 25...so we made up for a lot of lost time in 1998-99!
It was my turn again for Christmas '99, and I included the official letter from the University of Oklahoma (OU) saying that I had graduated. I had walked in 1995, but due to disputes with the French Department, my actual diploma had been on hold for over FOUR years. Todd was instrumental in helping me fight the College of Arts and Sciences to finally release my degree, and I honestly felt he'd earned it as much as I had... For Christmas 2000 it was Todd's turn. Once again, he came up with the perfect symbol for our year. We are both huge University of Oklahoma football fans. This past fall we attended our first OU game since we graduated. And what a game it was -- the OU Sooners played the Nebraska Cornhuskers (who were then ranked #1). OU beat NU by a score of 31-14, and as a result OU was ranked #1 for the first time since Barry Switzer coached in 1987. Todd included a photograph of the final score (on the scoreboard near our seats on the north 10-yard line), and a newspaper clipping that read "Sooners leave Huskers red". For 2001, I stuck in a series of paperwork that had "special meaning" just to the two of us, and included a small note. (More updates to follow soon!)
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