So, I made reservations for supper Sunday night at a restaurant we normally wouldn’t even consider going to because of the cost, and we may regret having done so by Monday morning, but what the hell, it’s a special occasion.

And today I was in the garage when a refrigerated van pulled up in front of the house.  Ah Hah!  I recognize that logo — it’s the Edible Arrangements folks.  Oh, yes!! 

You are really missing something if you haven’t been the recipient of their wares.  Our introduction to them was as a gift a few years ago — we had never heard of them before.  But that was a treat that started the ball rolling and we have sent several gifts from them in the meantime.  The only negative is that they are not available everywhere, and that is a real shame.  They aren’t available, for instance, in Iowa City, Iowa.  There, Brian, now you know.  Sorry.  You’d have had one by now if available; we tried!  

Today it was our turn to be on the receiving end again.  Our three sons and daughters(-in-law) have sent us a really nice edible arrangement and it’s everything I can do to keep from diving into that thing.  But, the wife is at work yet, so I have to restrain myself.  Ain’t easy.

I brought the arrangement inside and moved a refrigerator shelf to make room for it.  Just as I closed the refrigerator door the doorbell rang.  Hmmm.  I’ll bet he forgot and needs me to sign for it.

I opened the door to find not the Edible Arrangements driver, but a FedEx driver with a large flower box in his hand — overnight delivery, again from our three sons and their wives.

So there I was, two trucks parked out front at the same time, each bearing gifts.  It’s one of those times when you hope all the neighbors are watching.  Heh.

I’m not opening the flower box yet.  Got to leave something of “opening” for the wife.

Oh.  The occasion?  Well, forty years ago a skinny 155-pound 6-foot-1-inch teenage complexion young man who thought he was older and wiser than he really was, married a really neat young girl.  In the intervening years he found out he wasn’t nearly as smart as he thought he was, but he had made one hell of a good decision when he asked that young lady to marry him.  Actually, he had asked twice.

There have certainly been moments when we both wondered about the sanity and wisdom of the whole thing, but here we are, still together forty years later and the better for it all.

September 14, 1968 - September 14, 2008. 

So far, so good.

EDIT:  She got home and we opened the flower box.  Tulips and Irises.  Beautiful, even in the in-the-box- bud state.  One arrangement to eat and another to just enjoy visually.  Nice.  Very nice.