I Gave My Love a Cherry
Okay! So! We went wedding venue shopping over the weekend (imagine me in a warehouse store full of wedding dioramas with one of those big Ikea-style pallet carts), but since that's its own entire fraught post (or seven), I'm saving it for a day when I'm not merely starting to catch up on household chores at 9 p.m. as a result of having spent daylight hours working in my actual workplace office, where I haven't shown my face for about two months. (I walked in and someone said, "You DO exist!" and then he called me "Linda," which is not my name.) Hence, wedding story later, chores today. Also The Bachelor today, and while I'm here a little post about Simon's birthday.
Simon's birthday is January 22, which means it's just one more domino thrown into my giant grab bag of potential hits-and-misses along with every other major celebratory event between Halloween and Valentine's Day. Since Wombat was born I've been batting about .500 on follow-through between late October and mid-February, and although that stat would make me a preternatural superstar on the diamond, it's not really so hot when it means that although I remembered to make a hand turkey for Thanksgiving, I didn't get my spouse a Christmas present.*
This year, I was still catching my breath from New Years when I realized Simon's birthday was upon me once again (much like Simon himself *rimshot*) (*rimshot* on the *rimshot*) (yes, I'm kind of gross), and although I didn't surprise him with breakfast in bed or a cake or a homemade banner or lunch at Hooters (I look at posts from that era and barely recognize us; so carefree! so quick to call waking up at 9 a.m. "early"!), it still ended up being a very lovely day, and probably because I didn't plan out every last second and then grump about things not turning out the way I'd pictured them.
I didn't need to pencil in time to smell the flowers, for instance.
On the Saturday Simon turned thirty-six we got up early (post-having-a-baby early, that is) and went to check out a wedding venue. (Is it tacky to bring one's child to meet with a wedding vendor? Survey says, "Eh, probably"; I say, "Eh, whatever.") After that, Simon said he wanted to go to breakfast at our old breakfast hangout (where the head waitress thinks his name is Waldo), but we got distracted (child!) and before we knew it we were in San Francisco walking through the Mission against the current of a giant Mexican funeral on the sunniest day of the year, in fruitless search of a music store that no longer exists. We eventually ended up at Guitar Center, where I bought Simon the sparkly guitar of his choosing, although for me the true gift (read: sacrifice) was letting Simon fondle the merchandise offerings at his leisure while I minded that child of ours, who has been trained to want to touch every instrument and yet is taken to this musicians' mecca and told "No touchy" about ten frillion times. I let him roll around in the guitar straps. No one will yell at the kid in the kitty hat.
Having skipped breakfast, we were starving by then and made a flash decision to pick up something at Whole Foods, which is how we wound up grocery shopping with a Les Paul in the cart.
We loaded up a take-out box with burrito ingredients and drove aimlessly until we found a park, where we picknicked on a bench and enjoyed the view and the glorious January weather before heading home. (If you are buried in snow, I'm sorry, but I wore a skirt with bare legs this weekend and at one point the sun was so hot on my face I had to move into the shade for relief.)
When we got home we played in the backyard while Simon took birthday calls from friends far afield, and then after the sun went down we put the boy in bed and popped some champagne and hopped in the hot tub and drank out of our pimp cups while talking about our wedding late into the night. Our wedding! Which, if all goes as planned, will be within a week of my birthday, which is usually within a week or two of Mother's Day, which means another fine jumble of important events juxtaposed such that Simon would forever be forgiven for forgetting one of the four three if, as the years go, by he turns out to be a gift flake like me instead of remaining, in his advanced age, the consistently awesome and thoughtful and kind and generous and clever and fun person who never fails at gifts whom I'm so glad was born so he could grow up to sit across the kitchen table from me at the end of the day. I love you, honey. Happy Birthday.
*I did, for the record, get him a Christmas present this year, although he didn't get to open it until three weeks after the fact because it was sitting on my desk in the office I never go to. It was just a little leopard-print guitar strap is all, but it happens to go perfectly with the new birthday guitar, so if he's willing to give me some leeway, I'm going to just pretend I'd planned it that way all along because I'm so on my game.
Happiest of Birthdays Simon!
We sound like gift giving twins. I procrastinate while trying to plan the perfect gift (because if it's not the most perfect gift/experience/time ever, than what's the point, right) and either it's late or something I picked up at the last minute.
Also, not tacky to bring a child along. When we planned our wedding, the vendors who we were most excited to work with when all was said and done were the ones that had no problem with the presence of my then 6-year old stepdaughter.
Happy Birthday, Simon!
We have a semi-jumble of celebrations at Chez Knighton. We start partying on Labor Day and continue thru New Year - my birthday, Handsome's birthday, our Anniversary, Christmas & New Year - all running together in one fantastic end of year party. It's the only way to go!
Also, Christmas at our house included a new Taylor acoustic. We lose many hours at the Guitar Center, too. Guess I'm going to have to find a fantastic strap to keep up with the Leah-Simons.
Happy, happy birthday (again) to Simon! It sounds like a perfect day, for all of you. :)
Wow, both our boys' birthdays are so close! Roth's (33rd) birthday was on the 21st. Refresh my memory -- are you a Libra, like me? If so, whoa.
Taurus? Telemachus? I don't even know anymore. My birthday is on May 1.
Woah, is this a full post in my RSS Reader I see? (And yet notice how I clicked over anyway out of sheer habit). :)
Please keep posting about warm suns and pictures with sailboats and flowers by the sidewalk. Gives me hope that winter will end. Which is does every year, but I always forget. love.
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