The Music Box

As mentioned in the post about my Egyptian treasures, my money-from-around-the-world collection is housed in an antique music box. When I was younger, my sister had a music box that I loved to play with. It was a black rectangle with some sort of Chinese landscape scene painted on the front. Inside, it was lined with pink corduroy on the bottom and the lid was lined with mirrors. It played a lilting, plinky sort of tune. I can't remember how young I was when I last saw it, but I would guess five or six years old.

Fast forward to May of 2000. Mike and I were freshly in love and we found ourselves in an antique store in Saskatoon. In one corner of this little store, I came across the exact same music box that Jenn used to have. I called Mike over and I oohed and aahed over it. I wound up the metal dial to listen to the music that I had not heard in fifteen years. When I glanced at the price tag, I gently set the music box back down, finished listening to the song, closed the lid and walked away. When you're on student loan, you don't have extra money to toss around purchasing antiques.

Fast forward to December of that same year. Mike had done a day trip to Saskatoon for an appointment. When he got home, he was grinning from ear to ear. When I asked why he was so happy, he said that he had found the perfect Christmas gift for me and that it was in the trunk of the car.

I asked Mike, "If I can guess what it is, can I have it now?".

Mike was so confident that I would never in a million years guess what it was that he said "Yes".

Without skipping a beat, I replied, "The music box".

I will never forget the look on Mike's face...he was absolutely floored that I had guessed it on the first try, without any clues. To this day, I really don't know how I knew.



Notice the old one dollar bill in the back ground...it is perfectly crisp and never been used!