Yesterday was Jawana's (aka my beautiful girlfriend) birthday. Since I am on a tight budget this year, and will be for several years to come, I have become very creative in my gift giving. A little has to go a long way.
The first thing was, I remembered she mentioned that she liked getting flowers at work. In the 8 months we've been together, I've never done that for her. At 8:25 AM I called the florist and expressed my need to have flowers, chocolates, and a balloon delivered a.s.a.p. to her office. I believed there was a chance the flowers could be delivered before she left to do her route at 10:00 AM.
When Jawana called me at work at 10:00 AM, there was no mention about any flowers. So I instinctively knew one of two things had happened: (1) They hadn't been delivered yet or (2) She got them and didn't love me any more and was mad that I sent them to her at work. I was hoping it was item (1).
Jeremy, Jawana, and I met for lunch at 12:30. Still no mention of any flowers. (I thought her office might call her and tell her she had received something at the office) My concern started growing, but not too bad yet.
At 2:15 she stopped by my house since she was delivering that route. As we sat and talked during her 10-minute break, there was still no word about the flowers. She left at 2:25 and I promptly got on the phone and called the florist asking where my flowers were. The lady said they had just received the order and were going to expedite it. I was like, "Good Lord, I called in at freakin' 8:00 this morning. My girlfriend is on her way back to the office and is leaving at 3:00. I need them there before then."
I looked through the phone book trying to find her office number, but couldn't find it. I wanted to call up there and have them prepared to stall her, and not let her leave until the flowers got there. I called her and got the number saying I was updating her contact info in my phone. I then tried to call the office and got some crap automated phone system. And then, when I got through I was being sent to a machine. RAHHHH!
I called the florist back at 2:55 and the lady said she had just gotten back to the shop and had dropped off the flowers. A few minutes later my baby text messaged me and said she had received the flowers.
Part I of the plan was complete.
At this point it was nearly 3:30 PM and I was on my way to get a haircut. I did that and then went over to see Jawana for a bit at her salon where she was also getting her hair done. We chatted and then I went to the bookstore under the impression I had plenty of time to kill snce we were meeting up with Shane, Melody, Emily, and all other friends around 7:00 PM.
At 4:16 PM Jawana called and said that JR was at her house with Shayla and he had to get back to Huntsville (JR is a friend of hers who babysat Shalya Thursday) to work on a sound system installation at a church and that she needed me to get there as quickly as possible.
So here I am, looking through the stacks of birthday cards and then the looming checkout line. I hurried and picked one out and checked out. I still had not wrapped her gift either.
For her gift, Wednesday night I Photoshopped 5 pictures, printed them out, and cut them to fit into a "frame tree" that she has been wanting to fill with pictures ever since we started dating. (I stole the tree from her house Tuesday night when I left. She was asleep)
Since it wasn't wrapped and I thought I had to be in a hurry, I improvised and used a huge Hickory Farms Bag to sit the tree into (It was about 2.5 feet tall and 1 foot wide)
I hopped in the shower, changed clothes and got to her house around 5:10. JR was still there and was showing me the gifts he had gotten Jawana for her birthday. Earlier in the day he had called me at work asking what Jawana needed so I explained her trash can situation and how it would be nice to have a larger one with a cover, and also some car washing supplies since she doesn't have any. He came through with those goods.
I was glad he got them, but kind of miffed because I thought he was in a hurry to leave. I wouldn't have hurried so much if I had known that he was going to hang out with us for a while.
Part II of the plan was complete.
It was now about 5:30 PM and we were trying to figure out what to do. I called Shane and they were still in Nashville and weren't sure if they were coming down. We were already hungry so we went to eat. Dinner was over at 7:00 and we decided to drive to Nashville to meet them, because I needed to exchange videos and get some money.
We made the trip and the exchange and got home at 10:45 PM.
Deep inside I felt really bad about making the late run to Nashville on her birthday. I hardly got to spend any time with my baby at all one-on-one, and that was all I wanted to do Thursday night: Be with her, and just relax. Plus, who wants to spend 4 hours of their birthday traveling in a car, to Arby's at exit 46?
I beat myself up about it the whole way home. I was pretty upset when we got to bed. I felt like such a bad boyfriend. Inconsiderate. Selfish. I made a bad decision.
I wondered about my problems with boundaries and not being able to separate work and play. I always seem to put work first. It's a reflex. I've always done it. I am not use to having to take other people into account when I make decisions. It's always been, "This is what I want to do, and I want to do it now, so here I go."
In the midst of all the turmoil yesterday, I never once thought about a birthday cake. When we were at Arby's she made mention about a lack of cake. I can not believe that I didn't think about that detail at all. That really made me feel bad. Good Lord, how can you have a birthday without a cake? I'm not sure.
In my 31 years on this planet, yesterday was the first day I've ever done anything for anyone on their birthday. And I forgot the freakin' cake.
Good job.
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