Fun happens, it's not planned

I go into special occasions with the best of intentions. I want that perfect card, that perfect evening, and though that may sound slightly less than masculine (and HUGELY gay) it's not. It's my competitive nature that makes me want to, at the end of the night go "See! Look what I did!".

But the most memorable days I've had with my wife have come from those times when we just took a drive, showed up 5 minutes before a movie started, beat up a hobo, you know, fun stuff.

So for our 15th wedding annivesary, the only real "planning" I did was to take the day off and ask my wife to see if my in-laws could watch our daughter for the night. I knew two things, I wanted to buy my wife an anniversary present and I wanted to eat.

Ever see those Jared The Galleria of Jewelery commercials? It's always two Yentas (Shalom to my Hebrew bruthas) talking about their Yenta freind who brow beat some poor slob into buying something for her at this place with the tag line "He went to Jared!". After going there myself, I'm guessing he left pissed. Jewelery sales people are usually on you like stink on a monkey from the moment you set foot in the store. Not these guys. My wife is looking at saphire (her birthstone) rings and I'm looking at two thousand dollar watches and NOBODY bats an eye at us, which really pissed me off because I lettered in eye-batting in high school!

So we go to Macy's and my wife finds a very nice yellow gold ring with saphires on it. Very nice. Was it too much? You betcha. But you only have this milestone once. Next it was "What do YOU want".

I "thought" I wanted an iPod Touch. My buddy John has been raving about his and he's usually pretty good on what's worth it and what's not. But I really have not been that gadgety lately and I'm happy with my crappy old iPod (and its black and white display..."EEEeew!"). So my wife suggested a watch. Macy's had men's watches but they were from Guess and Fossil and I just cant be 43 and wear a Fossil watch, no matter HOW nice the day-glow peace sign is on it. I know, I'm picky, right?

So I decide if I'm gettig a watch, it's gotta be one I will NOT lose or neglect. Which means, something pricey. I immediately gravited towards Tag Heuer, makers of fine Swiss watches and i'm sure in some capacity, chocolate. Don't they ALL make chocolate over there?

So we go to Littman's and sonofagun, they have them. Now, I had NO clue how much they cost, I just knew they were a prestigious name. The first one I look at...ah..NICE...eleven hundred dollars. We'll just be putting you RIGHT back now. I did happen to come during a sale, some they were discontinuing were %50 percent off! I saw a blue one, I really liked it. And that's saying a lot. I'm not into flashy things. But this watch (this is it by the way) stood out to me. So we thank the nice salesperson and split. NO WAY was I going to be able to get that watch, even at %50 off!

So we go, have a nice lunch, and soon enough we are back and I decide to go for it. I was nervous as hell. Then my wife said something that relaxed me. She said "If this was a PC, you wouldn't even be blinking now". She was right. Hell, I'd be upset at the cost only because I'd know that it wouldnt' be as fast as I wanted it to be BECAUSE it was cheap, well, cheap for PC's.

Then the financing questions started. "This extended warranty plan will pay for itself" to which I added "Can it? Can it in fact, just pay for itself?" I said smiling. Jewlery sales people aren't the best jokers. So, we didn't have that great fantastic evening I had hoped for but I got to spend time with my best freind in the whole wide world and she got something that she'll remember this milestone and so did I. Today, I was a lucky guy.