Welp, as I write this, tomorrow is Valentine's Day.
When I was pressed to 'set the date' for our upcoming nuptials by my sweetie lo those many years ago, I was figuring 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!
If I'm lucky I might get something for Valentine's Day. Last year David surprised me with roses and a plant which was nice. Unfortunately, I'd written the week before about how he never gets me anything then the fink went and proved me wrong. I'm sure he'll make it up this year by surprising me again. It's “Will he? Or won't he?” suspenseful in this house.
When he does try and get me something without my telling him what I want, what color, what size, and drawing a map of where it is located in the store, etc., I will say I'm usually very surprised. For Christmas a couple of years ago he gave me a handcarved wooden duck. We don't have any wildlife décor in this house. But he tries. Bless his heart, he tries.
I've made peace with the fact that he's not a good giftgiver. 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 middle school all over again.
If anything happens to me the rest of the family are going to be surprised. In the entirety of our 49 years of the wedded bliss, I've done all the shopping, purchasing, and wrapping of all gifts, as well as buying any cards on which I signed both our names. To this day no one, not even our banker, knows what David's signature looks like.
Anyway, in week and a half it will be our 49th wedding anniversary. Who'd a thunk it? I don't know about David but I never dreamed we'd last this long. Not because we didn't love each other enough but because I never thought either one of us would live this long. When we got married at the tender ages of 19 and 23, the age we are now seemed soooo old. We're our parents ages! How can this be? I figured our bones would have turned to dust by now.
On the flip side, even though I'm obviously the better gift giver in the family, I'm the worse when it comes to making plans or decisions as y'all have read about in my numerous columns on David's home improvement binges. Any trips we've made in the last 10 years were ones he planned and initiated–to a point. He decided on the destination and how we'd get there then leave it up to me to make all the rest of the plans as to where we'd stay, what we'd see, etc. The flaw in this plan seems to be the fact we always managed 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. The pandemic made a convenient excuse for our sticking close to the home plate but as things ease off I won't have to look far for another one.
Excuse number one: We can't possibly leave our elderly Cocker Spaniel, Molly, with anyone. She's frail and nearly blind. She has to have her eyes cleaned and medicated several times a day and depends on us completely.
Excuse number two: We recently adopted a rescue Yorkie who, contrary to my vow to never again acquire a dog that wasn't housebroken, has stolen our hearts. We can't leave her with anyone as she's very timid, easily spooked and will piddle spontaneously.
I think this year we'll just stay home and eat at one of our numerous local dining establishments. Next year we will have to make more of an effort to do something special since, God willing, we'll be celebrating our 50th, a/k/a, Golden Anniversary. As I've told our kids and other family and friends, unless they throw us a party, we'll probably celebrate the same way as this year. We're boring. We know it. We've made peace with it.