What you
didn’t see.
Sam, you’ve seen the magazine. Here’s a little of what went into making it for you: the research, the places I worked, the ideas I kept coming back to, and the reason I started.
You asked for something meaningful.
I kept thinking about that.
For your birthday this year, you told me you wanted something meaningful—something with thought behind it. That stayed with me when I started thinking about our anniversary.
I can buy you something nice, Beautiful. I love doing that. But this time, I wanted to give you something that needed me in it: my time, my attention, my memories of us, and the things I’ve learned from loving you.
So I spent months researching, looking through hundreds of magazine layouts, learning how to bring my ideas to life, and working through details you might never even notice. I kept thinking about what would make you laugh, what you would recognize, and which memories would mean something to you.
You were with me through all of it, even when you had no idea what I was working on.
There’s a particular kind of love in spending that much time thinking about one person. I would look at a picture and remember being there with you. I would finish a page and wish I could show you already.
I wanted you to open this and feel how well I know you—and how much I still love finding ways to surprise you. Every page gave me another chance to say, “I remember this. I love this about you. I’m so glad this is our life.”
Wherever I could work
on something for you.
This magazine came together in my office, in my Jeep Compass, at Barnes & Noble, and anywhere else I could find a place to sit and work. There wasn’t one place where I made your gift. I carried it with me.
Whenever I had a chance, I’d come back to it. Another page, another idea, another detail I wanted to get right for you. Somewhere in those ordinary places, I was quietly putting together something I hoped would mean the world to you.
And in my office, there we were in the picture on the windowsill while I worked on telling our story.
The details were
always about you.
I looked through hundreds of magazine pages, studying how they used photographs, headlines, advertisements, and space. Then I kept coming back to our life. What could I do with that song we remember? That game we played? That picture of you I love?
Even the advertisements became another place to put you. I loved taking something you’d expect to find in a magazine and making it something only you would fully understand.
All those hours.
All this love.
Some details took longer than I expected. Some came together in a rush. I learned as I went, changed my mind, and found things I want to do better next year. Through all of it, I kept thinking about giving this to you.
I hope you see our memories in these pages. I hope you laugh at the little jokes. And I hope, somewhere between all those familiar pieces of our life, you feel how much I love being the person who gets to make something like this for you.
You asked for something meaningful. I hope you can feel how much you mean to me in what I made.
With all my love,
Sebastian