Finally, After Three Decades of Trying — The Perfect Gift
by Cathryn Jakobson Ramin
For the 30 years of our marriage, my husband has asked me to manage a task that has traumatized him since childhood. I am in charge of buying gifts for his mother.
As a newlywed, I embraced this challenge. I picked out designer handbags, belts and scarves from the best stores, seeing to it that they were wrapped beautifully, and delivered in prestigious shopping bags.
My mother-in-law loved the shopping bags, but the gifts themselves were always returned, within days and sometimes within hours.
Towards the end of the first decade, I suggested that we stick to Hallmark cards and flowers. But my husband, a dutiful and loving only child, made it clear that he was not going to take that guilt trip.
And so it was, last summer, when our cruise ship docked in Denmark, that two of our eight precious hours on shore were dedicated to selecting a blue-and-white salad bowl in his mother’s Royal Copenhagen china pattern.
I thought we’d nailed it, but — no. The bowl was too fancy. Since it was impractical to return this purchase to Denmark, it was dispatched to a closet, one filled with other rejects, and stacks of classy shopping bags.
In response, I announced my retirement from this spousal duty. But when the holidays came around, the question arose once more: What to get the woman who returns everything?
Inspired, I pointed to the Aura Frame in ivory with rose gold trim, in a position of honor on our kitchen counter. I’d already bought three frames — one for us, and one for each of our adult sons. In an organizational tsunami, I’d sent a thousand of our aging snapshots — dating from the days before digital — to be scanned to a hard drive. Then, using the Aura app, I uploaded those photos to all three Aura frames.
The vintage pictures were a treat, but we especially loved using the Aura app to gift images that had been taken minutes earlier. Our sons sent pictures of their escapades. In the past, such pictures, attached to emails and texts, or posted on Instagram, would have disappeared into the ether. But once they were uploaded to the Aura Frame, they remained in our lives.
His mother wanted nothing to do with technology, but with Aura, I pointed out, she wouldn’t have to lift a finger. She could sit back and enjoy the ever-changing show, which we would upload from our own mobile devices.
The frame, presented in its handsome box, did not go back. Instead, it quickly became the beloved center of her life.
My husband scanned some of the pictures his mom had stored away in boxes, and added them to the frame, giving her a precious window into her past. The fresh images we send so easily allow her to feel more connected to our lives. Almost daily, she tells us that the Aura Frame is really good company and the best present she’s ever received. She adores the size and brilliant clarity of the Aura display, which is kind to aging eyes.
In the five months since the frame arrived, she’s told everyone — friends, her hairdresser, the person sitting beside her on a coffee shop stool, and apparently the refrigerator repairman — to replace their static, dusty picture frames and messy albums with Aura frames of their own.
As Mother’s Day approaches, we’re buying her another Aura frame, this one for her bedroom. Each morning, she’ll wake up to our smiling faces on the new limited edition soft blue Seaglass model. Another gift-giving problem solved!
Mother’s Day is on May 13. Order your Aura now and #MakeYourMothersDay.
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Cathryn Jakobson Ramin is the author of two books, CROOKED and CARVED IN SAND, and writes magazine features and essays. She is compensated for writing for Aura.
