Squee worthy

My one of a kind, hand crafted lovebirds came in the mail yesterday! The were made by the wonderfully awesome, original Curious Crow, Kalinda Schreiber.

So, for the whole story:

I met Kalinda when her daughter was in Kindergarten, my first year of teaching. She wasn't in my class, but she always stood out to me as different from the other parents. All parents were super intimidating to me then, since everything was so new. Her daughter's Child of the Week poster was covered in candid pictures in fun costumes. Her daughter's favorite song (even at 5!) was "Walking With a Ghost" by the White Stripes. I knew she was different when she asked me to ask another dad in my class where he got his tattoo because she was thinking about getting one like it. We started to get to know each other on the playground and sometimes after school.

I had her daughter in my class in first grade, and her laugh and creativity are always present in Room 4. Kalinda came and helped in my room one day a week, and we were always friends in that professional, teacher/parent kind of way. We could finally be real friends once Airin moved on to 2nd grade. The summer after I had Airin in my class was when I met John, and for some reason, she was one of the people I emailed to tell her all about him. I think I knew she would appreciate the depth of feeling and confusion that I had about meeting a stranger and falling in love with him so quickly (and then not knowing what to do about it!) She shared her love story with her husband, and that she still feels flutters in her stomach every time he comes home. I knew then that that was what I wanted (no matter how many people had told me that that feeling would go away, or that I would eventually get tired of seeing whoever my husband was) and that I was pretty sure I wanted it with John.

It was standing in my classroom that following school year that she said "He is the other half of your lovebird pair." I hadn't admitted to myself or to him that I loved him yet, but I believed her, and she was right.

Who could have known that I would read a Mo Willems book called There is a Bird on Your Head! that would have a cute little picture of lovebirds in it? Who could have known that I would get engaged right around the time Kalinda would move to Pennsylvania? Who could have known that I would remember Kalinda's lovebird statement during wedding planning, connect it to the lovebirds image from the book, and the theme for my wedding, this blog and my life would be born?

Anyway, the point of this whole story. Kalinda is an artist with fabric and buttons and ribbons in a way that I have never seen done. To say that she makes dolls is an understatement. When we met, her thing was making faeries. Right around the time she left, she had begun making scrumglies, which can best be explained by reading her website. I suggested the idea of making lovebird scrumglies forever ago. Then she moved. And it was awful. Then she moved again, and it was still awful. The she found her perfect "House of the Rising Sun" in Pennsylvania and was finally able to settle in and be artistic again. She did a few things, like write a Young Adult novel (for reals, like with characters and everything) and make an awesome birthday gift for her daughter. Then she made my lovebirds.

They are perfect in everyway, not just because I love lovebirds, but because they remind me of so many things I love to think about: falling in love, my wedding, this blog, being so nervous my first year of teaching, Mo Willems, Kalinda and Airin, knowing I have something one of a kind and seeing something that is the perfect color.

Thank you, friend. For everything.