#2,283 Surprise.

Ben has been hard at work for a few weeks on one of his most beautiful pieces to date. When the new bakery was taking down walls in the early stage of renovation, the owner’s sweet husband commissioned a bread table for his wife, so Ben used the salvaged lumber to build it just the way she has dreamed for so many years. Today was finally delivery day. 

   
   
She has wanted a bread table for so many years and today it was a dream come true for her and a whole lot of happy tears were shed. Her whole family was there for the big reveal. My heart felt like it could burst!

And when we came home from work late tonight, as we were pulling into the driveway, Ben told me he had a surprise for me too. And when he smiled I could see the little boy that lives behind that burly facade, grinning, excited to spill the beans. He brought me inside to the office and sat at the desk. He pulled me down to sit on his knee and hit play on iTunes.   

   
He made me a ‘mix tape’ of songs just for our great big California adventure that’s coming up in a few days. Every single song carefully chosen for riding in a convertible along the Pacific Coast Highway, just like we’ve always dreamed of. He even dug up songs that he knew I loved in high school, when I spent summers at the beach. He chose nearly 100 songs. Beautiful springtime French music from the 1920s, and 311 and Ben Folds and Counting Crows and the Eagles and Joni Mitchell and Pete Rodriguez. 

I know I’ll be homesick, but now we can bring a little of home with us.