My first real gun is a Remington 870 youth model 20 ga - the first iteration of it that Remington came out with in the early 1980s. It's SO small, but unless I have a grandkid at some point that wants it, I'll never get rid of it.
Mine was a single shot Mossberg bolt action .410, similar in looks to the repeaters in the recent Mossberg thread. It came from Topps as a birthday present when I was a kid. It is today both the least expensive shotgun I own, and the one that has accounted for more small game than any of the more expensive shotguns I've owned since. It was my first centerfire firearm of any type.
I can't relate just how many memories are tied up in that gun. I wouldn't get a hundred dollars for it if I sold it. And I wouldn't sell it for ten times as much.
May your wife enjoy hers half as much.