the gift of giving (part 1 of 2)

I recently asked my wife to tell me what the worst gift and the best gift I have ever given her was.

First the bad …

Almost without hesitation, she laughed and said “voice recognition software for my 10th anniversary.” Wow! That was ten years ago and she didn’t have to think about it at all. She’s mentioned it a few times over the years, but I had no idea it held such a high place in her memory.

I didn’t actually buy her voice recognition software, but I might as well have. We were on our way up north for a weekend, adult only get-away for our 10th. We had a beautiful lakeside home to ourselves two days to celebrate the occasion. On one of our stops on the way, I found one of those “this is cool, got to get it, clearance priced, deals”, voice recognition software for my laptop computer (yes, 10 years ago they did make laptops).

That night I had to “just try it for a few minutes.” Against my wife’s advise, I turned the computer on, loaded the software and started the “training mode.” This is where you say the same things over and over while the software tried to learn your speech patterns. I’m still not sure how they could call it “Natural Speak”, it was nothing even close to that back then.

Before I knew it, it was 2a and my bride of 10 years was sound asleep. I put the computer away and didn’t open it again the rest of the weekend (and I don’t think I ever used the software again), but neither of remember much else about that trip.

Wow, talk about the gift that keeps on giving… what’s the worst gift you ever gave to your spouse? Maybe you should ask them. I had no idea.

Next time I tell you the one she liked best.