Tonight, the Mrs. is attending an event put on by our church called Pink. Just the ladies for that event, so, the men decided we’d get together and do something, well, man-like. Bowling was the consensus, so off we went.
After overcoming my OCD bacterial phobias with the bowling shoes, bowling balls, and general smell of the men’s room. I found it to be refreshing to get out and do something with the guys for a change. The Mrs. was only a text away though…
On the way home, I plugged in Pandora and listened to my Andy Kim station (yeah, I’m old). Pretty soon a familiar song came on by The Partridge Family called, ‘I Think I Love You’. Man, it had to be THAT song when the Mrs. was out with the girls.
Eighteen years ago, I was working at a software company and had a cube surrounded by our team. I had been dating the Mrs. for a little over a month. While sitting there one day, that song came rushing into my mind, ‘I Think I Love You’! I looked up and told my whole team. I know, it’s cheesy, but it said what I had realized; that the Mrs. had captured my heart and I was smitten. Here’s a video of the song below:
After listening to the song on the way home, I began to reminisce about how I’d asked her to marry me. I had it all planned out. We would go to La Madeline’s and have coffee & dessert after dinner while sitting outside on the patio under candle light. Romantic right?
Then, I would have the waiter bring out a tray with a pre-written note telling her how much I loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. After having a few coffees and some chocolate pie, I slipped away to go to the men’s room, so I could give the waiter the note and tell him my plan.
After catching up with him, I handed him the note and asked if he could bring it to our table for the Mrs. When he opened the note and read it, he looked up in shock at me. I didn’t understand why. I thought he understood what I was saying but, later, realized he was a foreigner and didn’t understand English too well.
We waited for nearly an hour and he never came out. I went in to see where he was, and he was gone. Just then, I realized he thought I wrote the note for HIM!... Oh well. It was onto plan two; a walk by the lake at the park and the rest is history.
Our plans don’t always work out the way we thought they would for sure. But, learning to roll with the punches and taking one day at a time will go a long way to being happy.
Tonight, I realized I need to relax and enjoy life a bit more with the people around me that mean the most. It doesn’t have to be doing something expensive. It could be just playing a game of pool and enjoying a good joke together.
On this Friday night without the Mrs., here’s to the men who went out bowling together tonight and for their friendship. Here’s, also, to a great eighteen years with the Mrs. that all began with a note that freaked out our waiter…!
