Wednesday, May 04, 2005

The Dining Room Table

I was surprised last night - pleasantly I might add. I have the best boyfriend ever.

The night before I stopped at his house to leave a small vase with some flowers from my backyard. I also left a card with some sappy message inside that means something to the two of us but not to anyone else. And that's cool.

Considering that I am ungainfully self-employed as yet, I don't have money to spend on lavish gifts. Not that I have to, but I like that. I'm a Leo - I like to spoil people. Turns out J is a Leo also. He loves to spoil me and I am slowly getting used to it.

I cooked dinner for him. Normally I am a pretty good cook, if I do say so. I do experiment from time to time because I like to expand my recipe repertoire. Some don't stay because they suck. Such was the case last night. Yucky dinner. Poor J probably thinks my cooking is bad, but he politely ate it. And I will continue to cook. It will be good most of the time!

He told me to put some pants on. Lest you think I was eating dinner in my skivvies, not that there's anything wrong with that, but since I work at home, I wear pj bottoms most of the day. He wanted to take me somewhere.

Once in the Redneck Ride (aka, Chevy Truck), he told me that I was not allowed to hit him because he wanted to buy me something he knew I would like that was on sale. I thought, what the hell does that mean, but I will play along. I told him not to worry about me hitting him. I wouldn't hit him - unless he requested such - but that's the subject of a different post.

We drive backroads to Main Street. I have a feeling we are going to one of two places - neither of which I will mention. Well, one I will mention since that's where we ended up. He pulls into Frey's Old Tyme Furniture or something - I never remember the name completely and I think they spell Time - Tyme, but I could be wrong - I am too lazy to look it up. I thought, damn, if you want to drop money on me, this would be a good place to do it.

You see, I coveted his friend's dining room table. It was this amazing old-fashioned looking wooden table that would probably last several generations and be just as timely in each one. I wanted my brother to build me one since he is a master craftsman. His talent knows no limits. J had tax money to spend and he wanted to spend it on me.

I have to add that I don't often - and by often I mean never - have a guy who wants to spend money on me for thoughtful gifts. I don't know how to react. Should I embrace it and run through the store pointing and saying 'This one', no 'This one', no 'This one, my sugar daddy'. But somehow that seems inappropriate and quite out of character. Instead I walk through nervously stealing glances in mirros at my belly peeking over my jeans and below my little sweater that will look damn good on me once I lose some weight. Anything to avoid dealing with this wonderful gift.

We see the table that his friend has. I wonder that it is too large for my living room. We both think it might be.

Then we find it. This table is so perfect I want to strap myself to it in the store. We walk around but I can't get it out of my mind. We return and sit down. We move chairs around experimenting with different styles and colors. I want 4 chairs and the bench that is next to it. He doesn't like the bench so much but it willing to humor me. Then I put 6 chairs around the huge table. It looks so classy and so perfect for my old house. It reminds me of something I would see in a magazine. I think about how the colors of the table will blend with my room. How many people I will entertain in my dining room.

We go back and forth about the bench and finally decide to get 6 chairs. Then we have to decide if we want 2 arm chairs and 4 side chairs. We end up with 6 side chairs which is what J had in mind from the beginning. He was so patient, and I suspect he secretly got a kick out of watching me play and then come around to his way of thinking. I would. I would be mocking him if I finally got my way knowing it was best from the get go. But he's not like that. Well, a little. But it's cute on him. It's not cute on me.

I am surprised by how I am not bothered by the expense. I am surprised that I rather enjoy that he cares this much about me to invest in our future like this. That's how I look at it and how I justify it. It is a table we would buy together if we were to live together either in my house or another house.

And....the gentleman who sold us the piece told us he has one just like it at home. He has sons who are 6'8" and who wrestle. He told us he doesn't remember how many times they landed on top of that table. The damn thing is indestructible.

Which made me think of other things to serve on it.

But again - that's a different post. That might be a different blog!

This table is large enough to sort Wild Mountain Organics on. I can spread out my orders or my newly created products and put labels on, or just package up for shipment. Help me use my table. Check out our website.

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