Happy Anniversary, Mr. Texier

On our first wedding anniversary, twenty years ago, I gave you two papier-mâché birds, purchased at Robin's Nest in Arusha. I remember explaining to you that where I come from, first-year wedding anniversaries are traditionally marked by gifts of paper, but I didn't know why. Since then I've learned that paper represents (1) the blank pages on which the next chapter of a couple's married life will be written, and (2) preservation and eternal knowledge. The birds were stolen when our house was burglarized in the spring of 2001, shortly before we moved to America. So here, to replace the papier-mâché birds, is another paper gift. This time it is a book. Yours will arrive from the printer in a few days. There are 500 pages, plus a few more blank ones for us to fill together.