What woman doesn't enjoy getting flowers from her beloved husband? Who would be so cold-hearted that they would dread the thought of receiving this thoughtful gesture? The answer to both questions is, of course, Me. But I have my reasons.
The minor reason is that flowers are expensive, especially if you are getting them on Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. I, for one, would rather spend that money on a delightful evening out with my husband, Rubin.
But the main reason I hate getting flowers – it's too predictable! Every Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Wedding Anniversary, my husband brings home a very lovely, though very expected, bouquet. The flowers are often even from the same store – Albertsons, which is on the way home from Rubin's work. As a side note, I refuse to call Albertsons by their new name, which is Fresh Market, because if you look up the definition of a market, it is a place where people meet to buy and sell goods. Since I am not allowed to set up my own booth inside the Fresh "Market" store, I will continue to call them by the only name that made sense for their establishment.
Before you start judging me too harshly, you need to know a couple incidents that led me to admit this hard truth. First, there was the anniversary where we were more than a little late for a play we had tickets to and yet we "had" to stop at Albertsons because Rubin said we were out of, I'm not lying, window washer fluid. He came out of the store with several bags, replaced the fluid, and we drove on our way again. Later that evening, you can only imagine my surprise as a bouquet of roses was mysteriously produced from, yes, an Albertsons' grocery bag.
Next there was the day before Mother's Day where we had arrived home around 11 p.m. after a 3-hour drive to visit my brother. We had just finished putting the kids in their beds when Rubin announced that he needed to go get gas for the car. You can guess how much gas that car really needed! But, I let him go. And you can also guess how shocked I was the next day when flowers were presented to me by my loving family.
That being said, I don't hate the flowers, just the predictability. So, I had a talk with my husband where I requested that instead of getting flowers on these three standard days a year, he would pick three other times a year that he would get me flowers. I actually love getting flowers when I'm having a bad day or just because he is thinking of me.
When I found out my third baby was a boy, instead of the girl I was so sure of, I was a little devastated. I was still feeling sick and at the time this was very discouraging news. The next day, I discovered a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the table. These flowers from Rubin meant more to me than any of the holiday flowers.
So, to the many guys out there, who I am sure are reading a blog with a title like Training Wheel Mom, I suggest making a flowers punch card with 3 punches. Every year, you must get flowers for your wife at least 3 times. And here's a hint, for those "predictable" holidays you could think of something different *gasp* such as a card and her favorite candy.
