A GIft of Love

"Happy Valentine's Day!"

I was writing for my blog for the first time in a while. I was writing in an actual journal for only the second time since the first of the year. I was using a practically brand spanking new bamboo fountain pen. Practically only because I had used it already, having come into possession of it only slightly less than one week prior ( Valentine’s Day, actually, if you want specifics ). It was brand spanking new then.

I play Words with Friends ( this is related ) on my SmartPhone, mostly but not only with my wife, Ellie. It's a fun game but it presents loads and loads of ads - an ad after each word that's played. A large percentage of the ads in this game are by Amazon, and in viewing these ads I discover why Amazon is so successful: Amazon has

determined my number and it really pushes on it. A very large percentage of the ads it shows me are for - can you guess this? - fountain pens. And nearly all the ads recently have been for a bamboo fountain pen and its bamboo case. As you know, fountain pens are my weakness, and this is a very nice-looking pen. Amazon shows several bamboo fountain pens, ranging in price from around $15 to around $65. My wife, of course, knows I like fountain pens, too, and has pretty much sworn off feeding what she refers to as "your addiction." No pens, no paper, pen cases, etc. She is capable of being quite strict. So, naturally, I play with her about this.

The advertisements shown after each word played usually are not very long and, thereby, not terribly intrusive. I prolong an ad for a bamboo fountain pen by showing it to my wife, "Look at this nice pen Amazon is advertising to me." I might say this as I show her the ad on my phone. Sometimes I'll just murmur something like, "Ah, what a nice-looking pen," but just loud enough for Ellie to hear. Sometimes I'll tap the link, say one of those things, and show her the Amazon page, which has both more detail and more images. I'll occasionally pass her the phone. While I do this mostly for fun … the bamboo pen is a very attractive instrument and the reviews of it are good …  there is at least an element of insight if you were to call this a 'hint.'

In the middle of the day on February 14, Ellie gave me a wrapped box, smiled, and said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" I unwrapped the box with trembling fingers ( somewhat trembling ) to find a very attractive bamboo box inside of which was an attractive bamboo fountain pen … one of the pens Amazon had pushed at me … and I at Ellie. She had ordered this pen for me despite her hard line about my addiction. I found myself falling in love … after 35 plus years … with my darling wife all over again.

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