When David proposed, lo those many years ago, he insisted we set the date for our upcoming nuptials as soon as possible. I was sure that getting married 10 days after Valentine's Day would ensure I'd be able to celebrate two special days in one month and receive two gifts. Right? Wrong!
I was advocating for a long engagement, but David was having none of it. I had less than two months to get it together. I really don't know why I caved and set it that soon. If I'd have said I've picked April or May or even June, I'm sure he would have come around– eventually. What other choice would he have had since all he had to do was show up in a suit with a couple of friends to stand by in case he got cold feet. I would probably have been the one more likely to bolt if not for the fact that I spent the entire two months in a daze.
My plan didn't exactly pan out as I'd hoped for Valentine's Day. If I'm lucky David will pick up something from anywhere that peddles pre-made arrangements. My best shot is the local big box stores where they've gotten smart about the average man's gift-giving shortcomings. I love my big box store flowers. Really, I do. And if your significant other is great at giftgiving, well good for you. I don't want to hear about it, okay? I'm being facetious. Kinda. Sorta. Maybe.
Two years ago, when I wasn't expecting anything, David surprised me with roses and a plant. Unfortunately, I'd written before about how he never gets me anything then the fink went and proved me wrong. Fast forward to the present. Now that we have one vehicle and we're home together, all day, every day, and he's not very good at being sneaky, it's pretty much impossible for him to surprise me. I didn't realize that selling our pickup to our granddaughter would put the kibosh on my rare surprise (Ha!) Valentine's Day flowers.
By the time you read this Valentine's Day will be just a memory evident by the (now) wilted flowers he picked up at our local membership warehouse while we shopped.
I'm not particularly materialistic as a general rule, but sometimes the old “Green Eyed Monster” will make an unexpected appearance when I read post after post and see umpteen pictures on social media of what all the other girls got from their special guys. Geez, it's like I'm in junior high all over again.
In our 50 years of wedded bliss, I've done the shopping, purchasing and wrapping of all gifts, as well as buying any cards on which I have signed both our names. To this day no one, not even our banker, knows what David's signature looks like.
On the flip side, even though I'm obviously the better gift giver in the family, I'm the worst when it comes to making plans or decisions. Any trips we've made in the last 10 years were ones he planned and initiated – up to a point. He decides on the destination and how we'll get there then leaves it up to me to make all the rest of the plans as to where we'll stay, where we'll eat, what we'll see, etc. The flaw in this plan seems to be the fact we always manage to arrive too late to explore any attractions along our route. We just don't seem to be any good at time management. Also, I don't like making hotel reservations since I feel it compels us to be at a certain place at a certain time and I don't do well under that kind of pressure. Just call me Indecisive Isobel. Or Wishy-Washy Wanda. Whatever. The Queen of Procrastination lives on! I can never make a solid plan so here we sit at home most of the time.
We're still kicking around the idea of either another train trip or maybe a paddle boat trip up or down the Mississippi for this anniversary. We've been talking about it for at least a year. By that I mean I'll say, “What do you want to do for our anniversary?” and he'll say, “I don't know. What do you want to do?” That's about as far as we progress in our planning stage. Maybe we'll come to a decision before 51 rolls around. Or maybe not. We never change. This week we will probably be celebrating our golden wedding anniversary with our usual indecisiveness. I never dreamed we'd last this long because I never thought either one of us would live this long. When we got married the ages we are now seemed soooo old. Here's to many more years together.