Joe contacted us as he’d been unable to fix an upside-down photo in the personalised map he’d created for his daughter, Emily. We offered to fix it for him but, on reflection, he realised that in fact, it made the map a little bit more personal. After all, Emily was planning to travel “Down Under” to Australia and the upside-down photo would make her laugh.
Through helping Joe and seeing the map and the book he’d made for her 18th it seemed like he and Emily had a special relationship. He kindly agreed to share some stories about them and how the gifts celebrated their relationship.
Hi, Joe! Can you tell us about your bond with Emily?
Well first of all we both have a real love of music. Mine is more ’80s and Emily’s is more up to date. Sometimes, when an artist of today samples ’80s music she sends the tunes. It’s quite ironic, to say, “have you heard of this?”. Because it has the rhythm of something I’d like, particularly with the likes of Nile Rodgers & Chic and that kind of disco music, which gets sampled at length these days.
I of course ask “have you heard the original?”. She’ll wonder what it is, and I’ll send her some tunes from the ’80s back to her. And this is how we bond, as two people as well as father and daughter. If she wasn’t my daughter we’d get on anyway and music is the thing that binds us.
We both also share an interest in criminal psychology. Whilst working for the police, I did a PhD in criminal psychology and Emily is following in my footsteps by studying psychology. I’ve shared various theories and experiments with her. It’s a bit like teaching her to drive, I’ll be with her for 5 minutes and all of sudden she knows everything. Then I start to lose my patience!
A few years back she got me a little present which I wear as a bracelet. It has the line from a song by Juice WRD “I’m a doctor but I’m running out of patience.” I think it’s so sweet. It has a dual meaning in that it resonates with our conversation about me being an impatient doctor, and we both appreciate the song that it’s taken from.
Another gift from Emily I remember was for my 50th birthday. She tried to get one of the artists from a group I like called Sweet Female Attitude to come and perform at my party. They couldn’t make it for whatever reason, so she found a lookalike and got them to come instead. I couldn’t tell the difference to be honest! I thought that was quite cute.
You got Emily a birthday book first for her 18th birthday. Why did you think it was right for the occasion?
It’s full of memories and something that she can keep. The pages I liked most were the ones where we could add photos and personal messages and where it shows the memories that we have.
And how did Emily react when you gave her the book?
She really loved it, which is why I went on to get her a map for Christmas. It felt like a natural extension of the book.
Can you tell us the story behind her map?
We’ve travelled quite a lot as a family and I like that you can put those things on the map. You can make a little story around a memory of where you travelled and the fun you had.
For this map, I made it to remind her of the many trips we took together to get a curry (another shared love) in South London. This place was quite far away but for us it was long enough so that we could listen to my songs on the way down and hers on the way back. On one occasion, we were so into the music that I didn’t notice I was doing 34 in a 30 zone and I got pulled over. It turned out to be the most expensive curry I ever had, but I took it on the chin. Emily found it pretty humorous.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Joe, here’s to you and Emily sharing many more banging tunes, curries and uniquely musical gifts in the future!
If you have made a gift on thebookofeveryone.com, we’d love to hear your story! Just leave a comment below or email us here.
