California Vacation: The Flowers

YES. THIS IS HAPPENING. I’M BLOGGING ABOUT A VACATION I TOOK THREE MONTHS AGO. Procrastination doesn’t quite cover it. More like procrastination with a side of selfishness because I’d been saving these memories for me and reviewing them in my mind when rainy days hit. It’s not that I didn’t want to tell the stories to you, it’s that I was too lazy to upload 1,000 photos to Flickr and then this blog, and I felt if I tried to describe things with words I would taint the memory. But I’ve decided to kick myself in the pants and just post. So if the next few posts seem photo-heavy, long-winded and mushy, I ask for your forgiveness in advance.  Thank you.

Back in November Kevin’s mom Susan invited us to drive to San Diego, California with her to visit her friend named Kim (more on Kim later). We were more than happy to go with her. However, it seems like you can’t plan a vacation without at least 2,453 things go wrong and when it rains it pours. I had an English paper due right when we were supposed to leave (A seven page paper with citations that I still hadn’t written. Remember when I used to be a college student? Fun times), and two math tests along with chapter homework to turn in immediately when we got back. I was a bit stressed, and Kevin’s continual “your day is going to get much better, trust me” reminders weren’t really helping. I was in a no-good-so-sad-pity-me mood where I wanted to sit and sulk all day.

So imagine my surprise when Melissa, the secretary at my work, comes walking up to me asking my name. I grunted a “hmmm” at her without really looking. “These are for you” she said and placed an armful of flowers on my desk. It was HUGE. The biggest floral arrangement I’ve seen – let alone received – in my life. I questioned it for a moment before she told me, “you are the only Aubrey here, right?” then she laughed and walked away.

And I laughed. And blushed. And blast him, he was right. My day had gotten better against my will.

And I was perfectly okay with that.

What was funny was the reaction the flowers got for the three days they lived on my desk. With this stunt, Kevin became the most loved, popular boyfriend of any employee at my company. We have a large female population there so naturally this was hot gossip material.

And envy material.

Yes. There was lots of envy.

I had girls clear from Marketing coming to me to see my flowers. We all tried to choose a favorite part of the arrangement.

These were my favorites.

Or was it these?

No it was definitely these.

But wait, there’s a white and pink one.

I give up. It’s ALL pretty.

But my favorite part? The fact that he cared. He cared enough about my stressful day that he decided to get me flowers. And not just that, he had them hand delivered to my desk. My desk in front of all my coworkers so everyone could see that I was loved and I was cared for.

And yes.

I still have the vase and the pink ribbon.