Don’t believe his lies
Ridiculous, positively ridiculous. I have no way to convince any of you, but the ‘1995 Forever Together’ is in my wife’s handwriting. There’s no question about that. The mixing of lower and upper case, when not writing in true cursive, is like her hallmark. I’m rather fussy about that and avoid mixing cases, myself.
There are two explanations.
You received this book after 1995.
Your wife time-traveled from 2002 back to 1995 to give you this book. Because 2002 was the year this copy was printed.
I haven’t yet decided which is more plausible.
Next, I will post a picture of a cat, and ask for a theory explaining how this walrus can look so much like a cat.
I’d suggest looking through all of your books, and finding the actual book that was gifted in 1995 (assuming that you guys don’t throw away books).
Isn’t Susan reading this book in the alternate ending to Big?
How sure are you that the 1995 notation specifically means, I gifted this book in 1995? And is correct?
Admittedly, other than the significant difference in style between the two pens I have no reason not to believe it’s her handwriting, and you should know it well. Many people’s handwriting differs significantly between cursive and non-cursive.
Still, I find it very suspicious that “1995 Forever Together” is written with a different pen and in a different script, strongly implying it was written some time after the original note. I’m sticking to my theory it was added later after one or both of you convinced yourselves that this was the book from your first 1995 Christmas.
This.
Maybe your wife somehow lost or destroyed the original book and bought a replacement.
No one gets my humor…
Some varient of this is the only plausible thing. Clearly, this book was not gifted in 1995. Personal, unverified memories rarely trump hard facts.
Were you listening to “Rio” by Duran Duran that Christmas? Because it came out in 1982…or did it?
Isn’t one of the possible answers that he already had a contract for the book, which he knew was scheduled for release in 1998 back in 1995?
I don’t think that’d explain the bit about the “TWENTY-THIRD PRINTING, 2002”.
I actually thought the OP was presenting us with a mystery puzzle he created, along the lines of “A man is found hung by the neck over a puddle of water. What happened?”
Or that it references a website that didn’t exist in 1995.
I won’t disagree that you remember your first Christmas with a new boyfriend or girlfriend - but that doesn’t mean you get all the details correct after nearly 30 years. I have recently been scouring my memory regarding a couple of very-far-in-the-past boyfriends - and while I remember the jewelry the two of them gave me *, I could not tell you when they gave it to me. Was it my birthday , Christmas, Valentines Day? No idea. Same for my husband - the only gift I absolutely remember when he gave it to me was the tenth anniversary ring. I’m sure he got me a gift for our first Christmas together - I’m not at all certain which it was.
My guess is that your wife gave you this particular copy of the book sometime after 2002 and the “1995 Forever Together” is a reference to the two of you getting together in 1995. Perhaps she did give you a copy of this book in 1995 and something happened to it and she later replaced it - but there’s no way you received this copy in 1995.
* And in one case it should have been memorable- at that time/place/period of my life there was a standard progression of standard gifts and what this boyfriend gave me was a little different from the standard. But I still don’t know if the ring was a Christmas gift or a Valentine’s gift or a birthday gift. All I know is that it came after the anklet which could have been a birthday gift or a Christmas gift or a Valentine’s gift.