So, a co-worker kindly offered to throw a wedding shower for me  – some 20 years ago:  I was to invite my business friends and I felt so honored that my friend was doing this for me – even when she had barely met my soon-to-be husband.

Aside from the household items on my Registry and some lingerie from my closer workmates, I received a pair of bright red leather gardening gloves trimmed in green at the wrist. Naturally, after a few cocktails, the guests all made bawdy jokes about them.

Unfortunately, the sender of this gift had been unable to attend the shower, so no further clarification was ever received. Aside from the teasing, the gloves did seem very personally mine and not typical to a wedding shower. Maybe the gracious giver thought it was a ‘weeding shower’?

Long story, short:  I still have the gloves. They are now barely pink with a light lime edging, the are bent to fit my hands, and the palm-side of the fingers and thumbs are stained with 20 years of mulching, pruning, and weeding. They are soft and warm and irreplaceable.

But here is the catcher – 20 years later, I remember exactly who gave them to me. I may not ever know why they were chosen, but the gift-giver understood me better than I ever knew!