Math Man and I have been married for 32 years (100,0002 for the CS crowd). As we drove to dinner last night, we wondered what the traditional gift was for your 32nd. The 30th was pearls and the kids got us these beautiful oyster shells with bits of the nautical chart of the area we sailed on our honeymoon. The 31st? Last fall was a haze — between the college and Math Man's health issues. (Turns out the gift was "travel" — but the most travel we did was to UPenn's hospital.)
The 32nd turns out to be bronze (at least on the couple of lists that include it). Most lists start to only give the “gifts” for the years divisible by 5 after the 25th, perhaps because 5 years goes by in such a flash at our ages? Though if you make it all those years, it seems to me it’s time to start counting each and every one, if not each day. That would be almost 12,000 days for us.
Frankly bronze seems a bit blah for any anniversary. 32 is 10 000 base 2, which seems to demand something more valuable. We batted various gemstones and metals around. I suggested germanium (Ge), which is atomic number 32. It’s lustrous and silver-white, like our hair these days. It’s a bit pricier than silver, not as precious as gold. Math Man suggested he get me a new laptop (germanium has applications in electronics) as a gift. No need, I said. The one on my desk is fine.
What did I get him? A new water bottle! Not made of germanium, though roughly the dusty green of geranium leaves. Maybe he should have gotten me a potted geranium.
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