(Gilmore Girls fan site)
I mentioned previously how I planned to do the yellow daisies thing. My plan was to watch “Love, Daisies and Troubadours” with my beloved and give her a beautiful vase of yellow daisies. And here’s how it went.
Timing was the hard part. Especially with the kids. If you have kids, you know how hard it can be to get alone time. You have to schedule romance. And sometimes you have the misfortune of not being able to fit romance into your schedule. But this week, I lucked out. So I jumped at the opportunity.
I know, it’s early for Valentine’s day. But doesn’t that make what I had in mind a bad idea. In fact, doing it a week before Valentine’s made it more unexpected, a bigger surprise. And the surprise part was pretty important. I had it all worked out. Margaret was going to come home, and I was going to capture her expression on film. (Or on computer disk, anyhow.) It had to be completely natural. I needed her not to expect it.
That afternoon, she had an appointment scheduled. So in the morning, she stayed home. I’m an independent consultant, so I rearranged my schedule to spend some time with her during the morning. I put on “Love, Daisies and Troubadours,” and we cuddled on the couch and watched. So it was in the morning rather than the evening. Like I said, when you have kids, you get it whenever you can.
Then while she was at work, I did some laundry and made dinner. Nothing fancy, just spaghetti and a meat sauce made of ground beef, sweet pepper sauce from a jar, and a little added cumin, oregano, and red pepper. And a bit of black pepper, too. And I made a simple salad, too.
And I also ordered a bouquet of yellow daisies from FTD.com. (How to do this, I explained in the first part of the story.) The ordering procedure was straightforward. I ordered it at about 1:00 in the afternoon, and I asked them to deliver it that same day.
Then at 5:20, I got a call. It was from my wife. I don’t remember what we were talking about. Maybe she was telling me that she was stopping at the store on the way home and she wanted to know if I wanted her to pick up anything. I’d like to think I’m not usually an inattentive husband. At least this time, I had an excuse.
We were only on the phone for a couple minutes. But while we were talking, that’s when the guy showed up with the flowers. He knocked, and on the other end of the phone, she asked who was at the door. Ugh.
Somehow, I managed to sign for the flowers. And I told her it was nothing. So she asked again what it was all about.
“So,” I said, “what do I want from the grocery store?”
“Who was at the door?”
“Nothing. I took care of it. Ooh! I know. Maybe some Progresso soup, for lunch. I’d like that.”
FTD had substituted a different vase. They do reserve the right to substitute items of same or higher value. But it was still a nice arrangement of yellow daisies. One of the blossoms, at the edge, had been damaged. But I removed it, no problem.
When my wife arrived home, at first she didn’t see the flowers. She came in the front door carrying two plastic grocery bags, talking to the camera I was holding. Then suddenly she stopped short.
For a moment, she didn’t know what to say. And then she smiled. And she picked up the flowers and gave them a sniff. Daisies don’t smell so great. Michel was right; they’re a notch above weeds. But they’re pretty.
My younger daughter also made her a heart-shaped pouch that says “I love you, Mommy” on it. We had a wonderful dinner. And in retrospect, I think it worked. Sometimes I guess I do stuff right.
Read the first part of this series.
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