I Bought My Wife Flowers With a Smile!

I am not one to buy flowers, because they just die. Today at lunch I went to the store by work and had some flowers sent to my wife’s work. After spending a lot of money on them, I left the store with a smile on my face. Usually when I spend a lot of money on anything I am not smiling.

Three days before Christmas a pipe broke on our top floor and we now have a huge hole where the ceiling used to be. To date, we have still not had this repaired, which makes my wife insane. Our water softener has also not worked since late December, one more thing on my honey-do list.

We have had a tough few months. Since the new year, Tawna has had her tonsils out, and didn’t recover well. I started my new job at Cedar Fort Inc. two days after her surgery and was unable to care for her postoperatively. In November, I had bought her 5th row tickets to see Brad Paisley for her birthday, which was the week after her tonsillectomy. She had assured me she would be fine to go to the concert. The day of the concert, my wife spent the day in the hospital having IV's to rehydrate her. She had been unable to eat or drink anything since the surgery eight days prior. We gave the tickets to our daughter and son-in-law and they reported back that it was the best show they had ever seen. Not such good news for my lovely wife!

I had been kind enough to take her car in and have it inspected so we could get the registration done on it. On the way out of the driveway I backed out and crashed it into my son's friend's car, leaving the rear fender and tail light smashed. No damage was done to my son's friend's truck.

Since my wife's surgery had left us unable to celebrate either her birthday or our first wedding anniversary, for my birthday last week, she planned a secret surprise relaxation getaway weekend. We left Saturday morning and enjoyed a one and a half hour massage together. Her choice, believe me! We went to lunch, shopped, went to a couple of movies and spent the night at a charming bed and breakfast (which was a little freaky for me, but I indulged her). The next morning, we had a leisurely brunch and then returned home to change clothes and get ready for the "surprise" birthday dinner that she had planned for me with all of my children. When we returned home, we were met with a "not so pleasant" odor filling our home. After further investigation, we discovered that our refrigerator and freezer (which is only 13 months old) had ceased working, most likely since late the previous week. Our entire fresh food supply was ruined. My wife had gone to the butcher shop just the weekend before and purchased nearly $200 in meat which was now oozing over all of the rest of the frozen food. Note--Ice cream does not stay in the carton when not frozen! We then went downstairs to check on my mother who lives in our basement. When I walked in I found her talking on her remote control, completely incoherant. She couldn’t get anyone to answer it. Needless to say, my surprise birthday dinner ended up being an even more surprising trip to the emergency room until 2:00 a.m. Happy Birthday to me!!

My mother was diagnosed with pneumonia and spent eight fun-filled days in the local hospital, most of which not knowing who or where she was. We picked her up Monday night after work and returned her to her home (after spending the weekend cleaning her house and laundering every piece of linen in the house). We fed her dinner and got her settled and ready for bed in her clean sheets and blankets. We prepared her oxygen and her CPAP machine and laid out her bed clothes. We went upstairs for the last time about 10:00 p.m. At about 10:30 we heard her up letting her dogs out. In the morning when my wife leaves for work, she lets our dogs downstairs to play for the day. I called my mom to see if she was ready for the dogs and got no answer. My wife went downstairs and found my mom on the floor where she had spend most of the night apparently. My wife got her cleaned up and moved into her bed, fed her and gave her the daily prescribed medications and left for work, making sure she had both the cell phone and the house phone within reach. I tried calling her throughout the day, but got no answer. I assumed the worst. When I returned home from work, it was apparent that she was still not well. She was too weak to stand and had been unable to get up all day. As I called the paramedics for assistance, my wife cheerfully cleaned my mom up, changed her clothes and got her ready to return to the hospital.
We again spent the evening in the emergency room waiting for them to re-admit her with unresolved pneumonia.

On Monday morning, before my mom's release from the hospital, my 15 year old decided that he would rather move back to his mother's house than get up for school in the morning. As you may guess this was quite upsetting to me. He has lived with my wife and me since we were married a year ago. I can honestly say, I have never been that upset or angry with any of my children.

As if that tale of woe was not sufficient enough, our garage door is malfunctioning and the check engine light is bright yellow on both of our cars. Good times!!

I thank my lucky stars I have a wonderful wife to buy flowers for!!!