It’s Friday as I type this, which means in a few hours I will know if I made the right choice.
For the past 21 years, on our anniversary, I have purchased my wife one dozen pink roses. I do that because I purchased her pink roses when we got married in Key West, Fla.
I remember it like it was 21 years ago. There we were lounging around the swimming pool at our Key West hotel a few hours before we got married.
It was a low-key wedding.
Anyway, we were lounging around the pool when I asked myself what, at the time, I figured was a minor question.
“Should I get her some flowers for the wedding?”
If it had been possible for myself to reach outside my head and smack me with a two-by-four, myself should have done so. Instead what I said was, “No, why would you think you need flowers at a wedding?”
Then myself screamed, “YOU MORON!!! OF COURSE YOU NEED TO GET FLOWERS. WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?”
I hopped in the rental car and drove till I came to first florist shop I could find. Then I got out of the car and ran into the shop.
“WHATKINDOFFLOWERSDOYOUHAVETHATICANPAYFORANDTAKEWITHMERIGHT NOW?”
“What?” the flower lady said.
“WHAT KIND OF FLOWERS DO YOU HAVE THAT I CAN PAY FOR AND TAKE WITH ME?” I said, slowing down just a bit.
Turns out the lady had some beautiful pink roses ready to go so I paid for them, ran back to the rental car and drove back to the hotel.
“Where did you go?” my wife to be said.
“Nowhere,” I said.
If you are keeping score, technically that was not the first lie of our marriage because we weren’t married at the time.
Believe it or not, my wife loved the pink roses when I presented them to her shortly before we got married and she went on and on about how thoughtful I was.
“It was nothing,” I said to my wife, which probably was one of the most truthful things I had ever said in my life.
Since that day I have made a point to purchase my wife one dozen pink roses for our anniversary.
Well, that’s not true. I have tried to make it a point to buy my wife pink roses but I have a problem with colors and I occasionally find myself wondering, “Wait, were the roses pink or yellow?”
When that happens I dig out the wedding album and look at the picture of the roses.
“There were pink,” I say. “I knew that.”
But there were years when I would forget to pull out the wedding album before going to the flower shop and I would have to guess what colors the roses were. Most of the time I would guess correctly but not always.
One year I gave my wife the roses and she said, “They’re beautiful ... why are they yellow?”
On Thursday I went to the flower store to order the roses. I told the nice lady that I needed a dozen pink roses and then I told her the story about my color confusion. She thought my confusion was funny. So did I. See, I can laugh about it now because, after all these years, my rose color confusion is behind me.
I told the nice lady that I would pick up the pink roses sometime Friday afternoon and then I drove home. When I got home I ran inside, pulled out the wedding album and looked at the picture of the roses.
“They were pink,” I said. “I knew that.”
Which was probably one of the most untruthful thing I have ever said in my life.
Local News
Mike Pound: Wedding scramble becomes anniversary tradition
- Local News
-
-
Content of book, students' access to it at issue in hearing for suspended teacher
A standing-room only crowd is present at the hearing this morning to decide the fate of suspended Joplin Middle School teacher Randy Turner, who has asked for the hearing before the board of education.
-
VIDEO: Restore Joplin designer stepping up to help Moore tornado victims
The designer of the Restore Joplin T-shirts who helped raise nearly a quarter-million dollars for Joplin in the wake of the 2011 tornado has put together a similar design to raise money for residents of Moore, Okla.
-
Southeast Kansas foundation accepts donations for Moore
The Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas is accepting donations to assist the victims of the Moore, Okla., tornado.
-
Carl Junction officials weigh cost of proposed skate park
The public facilities and planning committee of Carl Junction met Tuesday to discuss plans for a proposed skate park near the site of the old public works barn on Water Street. The committee reviewed a design from American Ramp Co. of Joplin to get what committee chairman Tim Smith said was a “rough idea of layout and cost” for the project.
-
Mike Pound: Bernie’s in Avilla a classic tavern
I have a fondness for taverns. When I think of a tavern, I think of a small place with a simple bar, a pool table or two, a jukebox and a kitchen.
-
Federal, state leaders salute Joplin’s recovery
A deadly May twister may have punched a hole in Joplin and Duquesne two years ago, but the resolve to repair it will help other communities stand strong when they face similar disasters. That was the message of state and national diginitaries to a crowd of about 2,500 who observed the second anniversary of Joplin’s devastating May 22, 2011, storm during a ceremony Wednesday in Cunningham Park.
-
Banner from Joplin to be sent to Moore residents
A giant vinyl banner adorned with heartfelt messages from Joplin tornado survivors to the residents of Moore, Okla., became a centerpiece of Wednesday’s observance of the two-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado.
-
Hired hand won’t face death penalty in Vernon County murder case
The state has agreed not to seek the death penalty against Jeremy L. Maples in the murder of Belinda J. Beisly, but prosecutors have yet to take the option off the table for the victim’s husband, Bob T. Beisly II.
-
Families in Moore, Joplin linked by disasters
Zach Woodcock knew the storms were going to be bad on May 22, 2011, so turning on the Weather Channel was a natural. What he saw filled him with fear. The Moore resident’s family lived in Joplin, Mo.
-
Community gearing up for two-year anniversary ceremony this afternoon
With the playground full of children, it could be any other day at Joplin’s Cunningham Park, but the white tents popping up and neat rows of white chairs lined up nearby indicate something more is happening today.
- More Local News Headlines
-
