He sends me flowers

Awww, the Poolboy sent me flowers today. It was such a nice surprise! I had kind of a bad day yesterday, and today was starting out better when I got the call that I had a delivery at the reception desk. I was expecting a big comprehensive plan package from some stakeholder. Instead it was beautiful roses from Pablo!

He's so thoughtful. Aha you say - but your birthday is tomorrow. Did he get the date wrong? Nope, I figured it out myself. He sent them early so I could enjoy them longer. I love me some Poolboy - even when he doesn't send flowers. Tomorrow night we have a BD. Big date. He's coming up to take me out to eat.

The flower delivery got me to reminiscing. (anything to avoid work) I'll always remember the first time I ever got flowers. It was spring of my freshman year of college. I had been enamored with a Junior who was a Fiji (Phi Gamma Delta). I met him when our dorm floor was invited to their frat house for wine coolers for FAC (Friday Afternoon Club). Mark Condon was one of the frat guys who was trying to get us drunk on wine coolers with Ever Clear.

I hung out with him, and eventually invited him to our "house formal." It was like prom, but you stayed overnight at a motel in DM. We were smart though and doubled up so there was no (okay very little) hanky panky. Sal took Robin Kautz, Vic took Chris Wegmann, and Jane took Randy Slater.

Then a couple weeks later Mark asked me to his frat spring party. It was a warm spring day, and I was plucking my eyebrows and picking my face when there was a knock on our dorm room door. When I opened it, there were Fiji singers inviting me to the party. "You're so sweet," they sang, "flies gather your face." I felt sweet too, all sweaty and picked. At the frat party, a guy performed a "pretend" wedding ceremony. Guess we were all supposed to act like real married folks. Hmmm not this girl!

Then the week school was over I received a dozen roses from Mark. How romantic. Then I went home for the summer, all aglow from my first college romance. I wrote him several letters and never heard back. When I went back to school that fall, I expected I'd hear from him sometime. Nope. Then we went to one of their Friday night parties. There he was acting all nice. Then he showed up late at our first house party on our dorm floor. He was feeling romantic, and I wasn't quite feeling that way. So that was that. Never heard from him again.

The funny thing is that when Paul and I were first married and lived in Council Bluffs, we went out one night with a couple who also lived in CB. He was a soil scientist with the Dept. of Ag. As we chatted it turned out that she too had dated a Fiji. And gosh his name was Mark Condon too. During the same time period. Good thing we both had moved on!

I'm the lucky one - I moved on to the right guy for me. Sigh....

Life is rosy

Awww, Paul sent me roses at work! (see the photo of my cubicle in this post - roses are in the corner, right by my lunchtime book, plus pictures of my family and tickets from favorite events)

I like impromptu flowers much more than the ones I’ve gotten on “expected” flower days, like Valentine’s Day and anniversaries.

He sent me two red roses and one yellow. I was so impressed that he remembered that we had yellow roses in our wedding. Um wrong. When I texted him to thank him, he wrote back, “Did you like the Cyclone colors?” Iowa State’s colors are cardinal and gold.

Oh well. I suppose after 26 years of marriage, I should quit expecting him to a romantic. I’m not all that romantic myself. I wish I was more so. I’m just so damn practical – it can be a curse. I suppose it’s due to my English heritage – stiff upper lip (if I had any) and all that.

And I’m a tough person to buy gifts for because I don’t like to keep things I won’t use. I’ll never forget the kids’ disappointment when I took the watch back that they (and Paul) got me for my birthday one year when they were small. Thinking back, I should have just kept it and made a big deal out of it. But hey, it was just like one I already had.

And Paul will never let me forget the stick pin he got me for Christmas when we were newlyweds. But my God, stickpins were OUT by then. I couldn’t go around wearing a passé stickpin, now could I? I’ve learned to be very specific with gift ideas, so I there are no unpleasant surprises.

Yep, I'm a lucky girl! I heard this line in a book I listened to last week (Robert Tannebaum's Rage), and I think it applies to my situation in marriage as well. One of the main characters - Marlene Ciampi - she of one eye, big dogs, guns and oh the lust said it: "In my last life I must have been Mother Theresa"...to deserve a such a great husband (something to that effect). Of course her husband, Manhattan DA Butch Karp had just given her a private escape all decked out in cool furniture in the building across from their loft. It was a place for her to paint and get away from the family.

Anyways...I’m determined to think of something spontaneous and romantic to surprise Paul back soon. To pay him back for the beautiful Cyclone colored roses.