When we all got together on Mother’s Day this past Sunday, I looked to see if Son was using the engraved key ring we gave him in March. It had been his 24th birthday and also the first year in his new job and home away from our home so Husband and I wanted to acknowledge his achievements in a special way.
I tend to give cash to the kids unless I’m aware of something they really want. Husband prefers to give anything BUT cash because he feels it’s impersonal. The dirty truth is that Son and Daughter usually go out of their way to encourage us to be impersonal. Their hints can either be subtle or as obvious as, “Boy, I wish I had some cash.”
This year, though, Son began a new business venture apart from his regular job and it seemed to call for a celebratory token. I thought I’d go to the local jeweler and pick out a sterling silver key ring to have engraved with his new company’s initials. I ran it by Husband first for his approval and then asked Daughter’s opinion while we were on the phone.
DTR: It’s a great idea but is it really those three initials? Somehow they remind me of a highly avoidable virus.
OSV: I think they’re similar but not the same.
DTR: Are you sure you heard him right?
I called Son and worked the subject masterfully into our conversation. I was correct about the company’s initials. They sounded like the viral call letters but weren’t the same.
The jeweler I use is family-owned and operated. It feels great in this world of warehouse shopping and online catalogs to walk into a store and greet the proprietors as Pop and Pop Jr. Pop Jr. listened to my request and then broke the bad news about the current price of silver, which at the moment was double that of just a month ago. As luck would have it, Son was born on time and not a month early so I’d be paying the inflated price. I picked out a good-looking key ring and wrote down the initials to be engraved.
POP JR: Isn’t this a disease?
OSV: Apparently it’s other things as well.
I made one last phone call before placing the order.
OSV: You know honey, people might confuse your company’s name with a rampant virus.
SON: Then I guess they’ll remember it.
Passing Observations are the focus of Daughter’s Featured Fotos
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tights in the city, part 1
war time