The Big Five

Ben and I just celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary on October 2. We made our pilgrimage drive by the field where we were married, and it looks just the same. It was a big weekend to celebrate all around with three birthdays thrown in the mix: my Grandpa Allen on the 2nd, my best friend back home Melissa on the 4th, and my Mamaw on the 5th. It was also the annual Fall Festival at the J.C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. I always looked forward to going each year when I was growing up in Murphy and still like to make it back for it whenever I can. Going to Murphy for the weekend gave us a bevy of babysitters so Ben and I went out for dinner Friday night. Saturday the family went to the Folk School, and Sunday, we celebrated Mamaw’s birthday early over lunch before heading back to TN. Luke visited with his all three of his greatgrandparents on my side of the family, his Aunt Lydia, and his Uncle Morris and Aunt Glenda. It’s nice that so many relatives are there for Luke and us to see over just a weekend. Fall Festival always turns into a reunion of sorts as well; this year I introduced Ben and Luke to my beloved childhood art teacher, Betsy, and ran into our childhood neighbors and playmates, sisters Holly and Lacy Strawn. I hadn’t seen them in many years, and it was wonderful to see them as women now back to visit with their own husbands. Holly and her husband were due to celebrate their fifth anniversary the next weekend, too, since we were married just a week apart. The traditional gift for the fifth anniversary is wood, signifying strength and the established roots of the marriage. The modern gift is silverware, but I interpreted it as silver to wear and made Ben a silver ring that was displayed on a piece of driftwood from our honeymoon in a wooden memory box. The box was easy to assemble compared to the ring, but I wanted to try to get it all done this year. I have been saving all the mementos of our honeymoon to Northern California for five years, even lugging them to Italy and back. Finally, all the papers were made into a travelogue, hand-bound book and the stones, driftwood and evergreen boughs were displayed in specimen boxes, all in one large shadowbox. I enjoyed the silversmithing and will continue to experiment with more metalworking in the future. It is wonderfully tactile and I really enjoyed working with the jeweler’s saw; the surface of the ring is saw textured - lots of tiny cuts in random patterns on the top. Ben has worn it every day since I gave it to him and says it is very comfortable. We're both happy with my first experiment in silver and look forward to more pieces in the future!