Tomorrow should be a joyous day...

[Jeff Neely]

The first night my wife and I ever spent together was at her house and I got zero sleep. She asked why and I told her it was that damn lava lamp she had running in the next room. She suggested I move it and I told her I already had...so I could see it better. The stupid thing was just so mesmerizing.

 

Our first memorable date (besides the one-night-stand-that-is-still-going memorable date) occured shortly thereafter and it was a trip to Spencers where we bought eight lamps and ran home like school kids, set them up on the mantle, got happy like a camping trip to Colorado next month, and enjoyed the next few hours together. The thrill of that first glob popping out and the screams and finger-pointing that came with it, the first blob that was truly flow, the moment we agreed that all were perfect, the glow in the room lit only by the shifting luminescence from the lamps...Neither of us will ever forget any of that special evening.

 

Ten years later and we have many lamps. All shapes and sizes and colors...ceramics and customs and classics and a few other oddballs...They are everywhere. Somehow though, we missed the colossus lamps.

 

Right about the time they came out I lost my job and my sanity with it as I never saw it coming. That meant a tightening of the belt and a hiatus from buying lamps for a good while. By the time we knew they existed they were gone. I have been looking for a long time in a lot of places for one for so so long. Found one once but the money was still tight. They are so hard to find for sale.

 

We have drooled over them for so long. Panted and shivered with dread over the idea of never getting one. We agreed that it could be cloudy and ugly and we wouldn't care, we just wanted to have one...ANY one.

 

So a few months ago I was tired of searching the net looking for one to buy and looking at picures of them on google images as I admired how others displayed them and dreamt of the day we could be looking at our own. About 50 pages down I noticed a picture that didn't seem right so I clicked it. What came up was a link to an antiques shop in New Jersey that had one for sale. I called, told the man it didn't matter what the price was, and paid for half of it. Then the storm came.

 

I waited a week and called back to ask if Christmas was going to be dead this year as it was my understanding that the warehouse is directly on the coast. As it turned out, the man told me that the concrete that the warehouse sits on is raised several feet to accomodate semi trucks from a prior business. On either side of the warehouse the buildings were completely destroyed but the warehouse with the lamp in it was unscathed due to it's elevation. The pallet arrived a week later.

 

I had it shipped to a friend and it took two trips to move the enormous boxes it came wrapped in (They ship with a LOT of protection or it is even bigger than I imagine!!) and I have kept them hidden successfully all this time. Today she left the house for a while so I drug the boxes out and used two full rolls of paper to wrap them. Tomorrow, I intentionally have a gift that will leave her feeling sad and let down by the entire affair. When she is sad and not happy with her gift, I will wait a while so she feels good and guilty for feeling as she does and then spring the special gift on her.

 

This should be one of the best Christmas' ever!

 

Hope it turns out as good as I think it will.

 

Merry Christmas and good, clear flow to all the goo-heads in the world.

 

Jeff

[Metallica Man Trevor]

Awesome! I want one someday as well.

[Tim Gill]

Well thats quite a story, well done for getting one

I am sure your wife will love it.

[lava luva ~ Tiffany]

awwww...how sweet! *tear* :)

[Brad]

nice!  be sure to share some photos with us!

\

[Erin]

Awesome. Story. Thanks so much for sharing! I'm excited to see how this turns out! :)

[Loren]

Good luck, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

[Jeff Neely]

I gave her a couple small gifts, everyone had finished opening what was there for them to open and the mess was getting cleaned, and then I went to my closet and the following happened...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Oqw0ZJMLw

She had no clue it was coming as, I think, the video captures elegantly.

It is a red lava/clear liquid lamp. The picture of it in a store I attached is the one that I found first. It looks quite cloudy in the photo and I was worried about that. Shortly after she figured out what it was she unwrapped the globe and I saw it for the first time myself. To her/my/our delight it is crystal clear and magnificent.

 

Good, clear flow to all,

 

Jeff

 

[Erin]

Awesome! Merry Christmas to you both!

[Jethro]

Great story!  Took me 8 months to get mine, they sure are elusive.

Merry Gooey Christmas!

J.

[lava luva ~ Tiffany]

wow...thats awesome! what a lucky lady!

[Brad]

sweet!  thanks for sharing this special moment.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

What an awesome guy, doing that. And that's a Humongo/Colossus. You DO know what those usually cost, right?? I'm betting you got an incredible deal on it.