Wednesday, November 6, 2013

DUO: Love Through Details

Boxing Day walk 2012; Suffolk, England

As you all know, elements of last year were a bit stressful.  Wedding planning plus visa preparations on top of the normal frustrations from being in a long distance relationship sometimes made things strained between Jon and me.  As I told friends when they asked how everything was going, boys aren't good on the phone and boys aren't good at details but I was asking Jon to be good at both at the same time - and on my terms only, which is a recipe for disaster - and it caused some tension.

Regardless, I was so excited for my Christmas trip to England to see Jon and his family.  We had some abstract planning stuff to do, but the visit was primarily going to be a solid two weeks of not worrying about coordinating or organizing any details.  We both knew that the important part of the holiday was just being together, so neither Jon nor I had really focused on Christmas gifts for each other at all because we'd spent so much time and energy dealing with wedding and visa things.  At least, that's what I thought!

I never doubted that I'd love Jon's gift, no matter what it was, but I didn't expect him to be quite so organized as I'd been; I'm one of those Christmas shoppers who starts thinking about (and buying) presents for family and friends in October, which is a totally horrible concept for Jon.  So I had no idea what was coming when, the sound of ripping wrapping paper filling the sitting room on Christmas Day, I was handed a huge box topped with the sweetest card from Jon.

Inside the box was the most beautiful pair of brown leather DUO boots - boots made exactly to fit me! Over the past few months, entirely without my knowledge, Jon had schemed with my mother to order those boots.  The boy I got annoyed at for seeming to not care about details had meticulously and secretly gotten my ankle and calf measurements to create a pair of bespoke knee-high flat boots for me.  He'd even chosen the shade based on what he knew I was missing from the colors of boots I already owned!  They were absolutely gorgeous.  The best part of the present, though, was being proven so absolutely wrong about Jon's planning capabilities.  It turns out he was good at organization and coordination all by himself!

Who knew you could show love - real love, love that has nothing to do with material gifts but is all about effort and thought and care - through boots?  DUO did, clearly, as did Jon.  And now I know it too!

(DUO is currently holding a contest for bloggers: share a personal love story and tie it to their collection to win a pair of DUO products and a £200 Hilton gift card. Click here to find out more!)

yes, I Instagrammed them! these are my wonderful DUO boots - thank you, Jon!

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14 comments:

  1. Ahh there is nothing better than a boy surprising you in such a surprising way!!!

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  2. So so sweet! How in the world was he able to secretly get your ankle and calf measurements? Your mom must have been up to some seriously tricky business. Love the ones he chose :)

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  3. That is wonderful, I have to say I think my husband is better at gift giving or maybe I am just easily pleased!

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  4. haha exactly! there's no way I'd rather be proven wrong :)

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  5. This is so sweet! Impressive effort from Jon. The boots are so lovely!

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  6. Oh my goodness - I love a gift that takes some thought, planning and effort and Jon certainly did all three. Perhaps I should send this post onto Joe... hmmmm ;-)

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  7. Those boots are amazing, and that is such a sweet and thoughtful gift! You've got a good one :)

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  8. I love that his love and organization also comes with some fashion sense. Nice work, Jon!

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  9. Gregory needs to take lessons from Jon! What a thoughtful present that was, he definitely gets a gold star :)

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  10. what an awesome present! My calves are two different sizes (just barely!) so having custom ones would be amazing. Isn't it amazing how they can surprise you sometimes? ;)

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