turns out the tenth anniversary is "tin"

Did I mention that this summer, the Mr. and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary? Well, we did, astoundingly enough. It honestly doesn't seem like that long ago . . . and yet, there are parts of our journey together that seem like completely other lives. It's a strange mix. We're pretty lucky, I think, to have ended up as family to one another and our sweet kiddo.

My dear aunt and uncle, who've nurtured my life-long love of books, my tendency towards reuse projects and my organic gardening, remembered of course, and collaborated to create for us this tin can robot.

It turns out that the tenth anniversary is "tin", traditionally, and though cans are mostly steel (year eleven), many are still coated with tin to provide corrosion resistance. Not too much, I hope, as I have a feeling this bot keeps getting more and more handsome with the addition of age and rust.

My aunt left his face up to me, but I thought the dents and verdigris hinted enough to do pretty well with just the etched outline of a nose and mustache on his funny copper head (year seven is copper).

Now he lives in the backyard, though I'm still trying to find just the right place for him. He's constructed via a system of holes and wires, so a light wind can blow him right down. So embarrassing for a man of his stature, I'm sure. He might do better as a wind chime; I might try it and see!

Anyway, I think he's pretty awesome. So are my aunt and uncle, incidentally. I'm a pretty lucky girl to have such people in my life.

Thanks so much for reading!