Handsome Hubby
Always a great memory from 2008! I have blogged this before but it is still one of my favorite Valentine's stories and so true. Valentine's Day has rolled around again and this memory always pops back up!
It is about my husband and a new side of him. He has never been a romantic! The club that we attend decided to delay Valentine's until Saturday night and charge an enormous amount for the dinner.
Well, our buddies decided along with us that we'd boycott the dinner and celebrate Valentine's Day on the proper day. We were sitting around the table at the club discussing what we'd do instead. Two of us left to go to the ladies' room and when we got back the rest of the table said, "We've got it planned. ____ will buy the steaks, Rodger (my hubby) will cook the steaks, someone will make potatoes and a salad and all you have to do, Barbara, is have it at your house."
So my plan was to place the six of us at our little country table in the kitchen with just as ordinary a dinner as could be. Then I started thinking that we might as well sit in the dining room because the table was bigger but we'd still just have a little ordinary meal. I knocked on Rodger's bathroom door and scolded him for having already been in there for 40 minutes and told him what I thought about moving to the dining room.
Well, he thought that was fine. He closeted himself for another 20 minutes and then came out all excited. He'd been watching this tv show telling how to decorate for Valentine's Day. He started on that dining room table, demanding a table cloth. I found one that was about 2" shorter than the table on the ends. That wouldn't do. He wanted it all covered.
He wanted candlelight. He wanted cloth napkins. He wanted flowers floating in a bowl.
He wanted to use the china that has been in the cabinets for over 40 years. We had to wash the crystal goblets that have been up there with the china. He was disappointed that I couldn't find any better silverware and really pissed that we lacked one knife having a matched set at each table setting.
He announced that he was going shopping at the Dollar Store and get something to decorate the table. I went off to my real estate office and he went shopping. When I got home he said he'd shopped ALL day and ended up at Wal-Mart where he'd bought a red tablecloth, white placemats, Valentine cards for the guests, and he sheepishly admitted that he'd stopped and bought a rose for each lady. He didn't like my mishmash of candles so he had red matching ones for the candelabra. The red cloth also wasn't long enough to please him so he cut it in half, made me iron it, and placed it on each end of the table and let the white show in the middle. He has put my heart scarf in the middle of the table and I'm afraid I'll never be able to wear it again. (Don't tell him but I may sneak it off and wear it instead.)
He demanded this morning that I find matching plates for the chocolate pie that one guest is bringing, better looking bowls for the butter and the sour cream and cheese for the potatoes. He insisted on cloth napkins. He has also insisted that we close the drapes so no one can see our dirty windows. He had already cleaned off the back porch and the gas grill. He's going to do the bar set-up today.
I wouldn't be surprised if he called them today and asked them to dress formally. He is wearing me out with this dinner party. Now I see why formality has disappeared. Without servants or maids to take care of all this stuff, it is a huge job to do and even harder to find storage for all the things required. But it has been fun to see a never-before-seen side of my husband. Here's the table!
So Happy Valentine's Day again to all of you on ActiveRain! Hubby is no longer with me but I fondly remember him and this blog each year at this time.
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