I thought getting my boyfriend a historical portrait for our anniversary was a good idea.
By @xenakinda · Relationships
For our 5-year anniversary, I secretly commissioned a painting of my boyfriend (32) as a Napoleonic-era general and our cat as his noble steed. He was not as amused as I thought he'd be, and now it's just hanging in our living room in silence.
The full story
Okay, so I (29F) have a weird sense of humor. For our five-year anniversary, I wanted to do something memorable, not just another nice dinner. I was scrolling online and found these artists who do custom oil paintings, putting your face onto historical portraits. I thought it was the most brilliant, hilarious idea I'd ever had. I picked out a portrait of a very stern-looking French general, sent in a bunch of photos of my boyfriend, and, for the pièce de résistance, I paid extra to have our fat, grumpy cat painted in as his majestic white horse. The whole process took two months. I was getting updates from the artist and I was literally crying with laughter. The detail was incredible. The tiny medals on his chest, the serious expression on his face, the slightly-too-small saddle on the back of our 18-pound cat... it was perfect. I got it professionally framed. The whole thing was massive, like 3 feet by 4 feet. Then came the anniversary. I made him close his eyes, and with a huge flourish, I unveiled it. He just... stared. No laughter. No 'oh my god, this is hilarious.' Just a blank stare for a solid 30 seconds. Then he just said, '...Why?' He wasn't mad, just deeply, deeply confused. they asked if this was a joke, and I was like 'Yes! Isn't it hilarious?!' and he just sort of nodded slowly and said 'It's... a lot.' I insisted we hang it, partly because I'd spent a shocking amount of money on it. It's now directly opposite the couch in our living room. It's the first thing you see when you walk in. Sometimes I catch him just staring at it with this bewildered look on his face. My friends think it's the funniest thing ever. His friends just look uncomfortable. Leaving it up to y'all, did I go too far for a bit?
How people voted
- On their side — 26% (26 votes)
- Both sides — 40% (40 votes)
- Other side — 33% (33 votes)
Readers are split: “Both sides” leads with 40% — 99 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@xenakinda — My wife got a custom comic book cover of us as superheroes and I secretly hate it, so I feel for him.
@noeltbh — This is a classic mismatch in love languages that's manifesting as gift-giving anxiety.
@kiraagain — I mean... what did he get you for your 5 year anniversary?
@codyyk — now you need to get one of you as a queen with the cat as a royal advisor
@jay — A future family heirloom, for sure.
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