For 45 years, Christine and John Koziol, of Somers, N.Y., have appreciated the wedding gift they received from Ms. Koziol’s beloved aunt and uncle, Eloise and Charles Harmon. It is an untitled painting created by Ms. Harmon: vibrant flowers spewing from a cream-colored vase against a bold red background. Ms. Harmon was a painter, sculptor and potter whose home, Ms. Koziol recalled, was filled with art. “It was something exotic that I loved,” she said. “She saw beauty in everything.”
Some of her aunt’s vision endures in Ms. Koziol and in the painting that graces her home. Shortly after they married, the Koziols purchased a house and hung the painting over the fireplace. When they moved to a new home, then to another, and yet another, the painting retained its prominent placement. It is inscribed on the back in Ms. Harmon’s handwriting, a rarely seen presence that Ms. Koziol finds comforting.
As for the Marriage Ring, Sofie told me recently that Nathan directed her to one of the books in the aftermath of a lovers’ quarrel. I am delighted that they are using it. For me, it was the perfect gift.
The problem is, Sofie’s younger sister, Ariel, and her fiancé, Mark Foley, are planning their wedding in 2019. Now what am I going to make for them?
Susan Hodara is a journalist and educator who lives in Mount Kisco, N.Y. She is an author of the collaborative memoir, “Still Here Thinking of You: A Second Chance With Our Mothers” (Big Table Publishing, 2013). She made lots of small books for her daughters when they were young.
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