Everyone should have a hobby. It not only keeps you off the streets, it makes it easier for the rest of us to get you a gift. For example, you can always give a golfer a dozen more golf balls. So what if your golfer friend takes those golf balls and puts them with the other 18 dozen he’s accumulated out in his garage? The point is that those golf balls say, “I pay attention to you and to what you like.” The gift is personal and not a mere marking of an occasion.

If you know my wife, Martha, then you know that she has taken up a new hobby, namely anything to do with our granddaughter, Riley. As a result, I managed to score the perfect gift, namely a framed, poster-sized photo on tiles, of the bald little joy-ball herself. I hung it in the bedroom and just let Martha find it.

Nana finds her birthday gift.

Adding to the photo itself is the story behind it. When I showed Becky the photo that I had selected, she told me that Riley’s smile had been produced by a specific incident. It seems that they had been caught in the rain between the car and the house and once inside, Becky dried Riley with a rabbit-ear towel. Becky then dried herself and put the towel on her own head, which elicited this great big smile.

The creator of this wonderful gift is Ms. Stacy Mirabella of Inwood, West Virginia, which is just north of where we are in Stephenson, Virginia. I met Stacy at her home office and had a chance to view some of her wonderful pieces, and she was able to create a wonderful piece for us. Stacy is in the process of launching her business, Image43, the website for which is here. I highly recommend, not only the finished product, but the business itself as Stacy is both quite personable and professional.

Now, Riley Dice, who on that day was 6 months/27 days, will smile at us for years to come, and I am looking forward to the moment when say, five-year old Riley stands before that masterpiece-in-tile and contemplates just who that baby is. I won’t be around when 50-year old Riley stands before it, but if she is like her grandpa, I know that it will fill her full of wonder and awe and her sense of time will be acute. What is the distance from 6 months to 50 years but a series of moments and this photo captures one link in that long chain when she and her mom were caught in the rain.