50 Gifts

By Bernard Brown

You will find this book to be funny, enjoyable and most of all inspirational in your quest to find the right gifts. This book is intended to give gifts to shower your special someone with love regardless if you are celebrating a special day, a birthday for one to 50 years. You will not go wrong if you are thoughtful, kind & loving. The recipient of the gift will feel special and appreciate you! Please take the time to enjoy the suggestions and the journey of 50 Gifts!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9780359104727

Book preview

50 Gifts

50 Gifts

By

Bernard Brown

ISBN 978-0-359-10472-7

Copyright 2018, Bernard Brown,

all rights reserved.

DISTRIBUTED BY LULU.COM

50 Gifts is a work of fiction. 

Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Preface

I always liked to put some thought into my wife’s birthday. What I would get for her was important to me. How we would celebrate not just the day but a weeklong celebration. When I was deciding on what I would do for her 49th birthday, my mind was already in motion thinking about making her 50th birthday something special. This is when I came up with the idea of getting her 50 gifts to mark a half of century of life. The idea of coming up with 50 treats would be a daunting task, but I was up for it. I did not want to present 50 items to her all at once but wanted to spread it out over the year. I was going to honor her in a special way, just like the people at Disney World do. I wanted to give her a gift every weekend and ensure we had an enjoyable birthday party for her each week. I did not want there to be any bad or sad times, just fun and excitement for Marva.

I was not sure where I should begin, in terms of gifts to give. I started saying to myself, what does she like? What does she need? What have I not already done for her over the past 30 plus years that we had been together? How much was this going to cost? I discovered during this journey that all gifts do not have to cost money. I wanted to use my creative skills to make some things that were authentic, unique and raw. I could write a little. I can make something out of nothing with clay.

I had to use my imagination and be creative. During this process, I thought about how much we loved each other and how love is expressed between us. I wanted the reader to feel what a loving couple does for each other that are daily gifts of love. How a loving man cares for a woman. What things my wife does for me to show her love and kindness. These daily gifts of love have been an intrinsic part of us having a successful marriage.

50 Gifts was the aftermath of Marva’s fifty weeklong celebration. I then presented this as a draft for her 51st birthday to read as we flew out to San Francisco, CA. This book is one love story of many between us. 50 Gifts is a gift idea book that we hope will inspire the reader to look at their relationships as an opportunity to foster love, peace and happiness. Marva felt so special being honored in this way. We shared the ride with our family and friends. Everyone wished they too could be celebrated in this way.

Bernard

Dedication

50 Gifts is dedicated to my beautiful wife and soul-mate, Marva Brown.  When I think of all the years we have been together. It has been a wonderful journey living my life with you.  I think we both understand that life is not a destination, but a real journey.  We have grown and learned so much from each other.  We are lovers, friends and bonded for life.

Thank you for the friendship, for being my lifelong partner and for giving me the gift of family.  We have two beautiful children in Marion and Myles that completes us. Thank you for the inspiration and motivation to share part of our love story with the world.  Thank you for loving me!  I love you!

This is also a special dedication to my mom, Anna Louise Brown.  It is because of you that I have life. Your nurturing love played the role of mother and father for me during my upbringing. You are the first person who showed me how a loving mother sacrifices and cares for a child.

You raised 10 children on your own with me being the youngest of the family. It is because of you that I learned to love myself. It is because of you that I learned how to love a woman, who became my wife. Thank you for all that you did for all of your children. You gave us a firm foundation to start our lives. I am blessed to have had you as my mother. Thank you for all the lessons you showed me about life and love. At the age of 95, you are still there for me and my family in so many ways. Thank you for making my wife a beautify quilt, which is one of the 50 gifts. I was honored to give this special gift to her. Momma, thank you for everything. I love you dearly!

Bernard

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Henry Livingston for making this dream come true for me & Marva.

A very special thank you to my sisters: Doris Mack and Beatrice Hardaway, for reading my original drafts and for your warm words of encouragement.

About the Author

As a native of Jacksonville, Florida, I was born September 10, 1963. I am the youngest of 10 children. I was raised by my mom, Anna Louise Brown.  My father, Henry S. Brown passed away 3 months into her pregnancy leaving her to raise all 10 of her children by herself. I attended high school at William M. Raines High School, class of 81. Go Iciban! I attended our local collage, Florida Community College of Jacksonville where I studied computer science.

I have been married for 28 years to Marva who is the inspiration for this book. We dated for 6 years, which gives us over 34 years of a life long journey together. We have two beautiful, loving children in Marion and Myles.

By profession, I am a Realtor with INI Realty Investments, Inc. I have spent over 35 years in the Financial Services industry, leading people. I worked for two AT&T companies called AT&T American Transtech and Universal Card Services for 15 years. I also worked at Citibank for 15 years before joining my current organization called Bill2Pay.

In my spear time, I enjoy working with clay, creating sculptures and functional pieces we use in our home.  Through the years, I discovered I like writing poems, short stories and now this book. I am a pretty good tennis player as I was taught the game by my brother Edwin Brown and have been playing now for over 30 years. I enjoy running and walking on