I posted this impulsive thought today. Sometimes it just feels good to send things out into Facebook universe. Someone was bound to understand my desire to be budget conscious conflicting with the memory of those amazing, sexy, red shoes.
My awesome friends and family rallied to the cause, immediately encouraging me to treat myself and just give into the impulse. I wasn’t sure if I would follow their advice, but then a window opened where I could go back with only 2 kids and it seemed serendipitous. I picked my daughter up from school, she was agreeable, and we went.
I tried the shoes on a second time, fell in love again, but talked myself out of the impractical pumps. I resolved to put them back, along with a gorgeous red, belted dress coat, and left the store (Jessica’s advice didn’t show until later). As I helped the kids into the van, I spotted a car pulling into the lot that looked suspiciously like my husband’s.
And it took me a few moments to realize that bad timing on both of our parts partially ruined a potentially highly romantic, incredibly thoughtful surprise. And this comment from a busy friend who wouldn’t normally engage on this type of post in the middle of the work day suddenly made sense:
We greeted each other, he asked about the shoes (his surprise blown), and I told him I wanted them, but was trying to be practical. I left unsure if he would purchase the coveted footwear, but crossing my fingers.
Later, Tim posted this:
To provide some perspective, though, this is a man who does not respond to subtlety. You don’t hint at what you want or make suggestions. He is amazing, thoughtful, and kind, but he’s not looking for the underlying message or secret hints. When I posted today, I never imaged he would leave a coveted parking spot and his incredibly busy law school schedule to buy shoes at a consignment store he’d never heard of in the middle of the afternoon. In fact, I was surprised he even saw the Facebook post.
I mean, yesterday went like this: I texted him in the morning to remind him I had book club. He came home for dinner and I reminded him that I had book club. We put the kids to bed, then I asked him if he knew the location of a book I wanted to bring to book club. We sat and talked for a few minutes – I was holding the books – and then I told him I was heading out. His response, “Where are you going?”
While today’s surprise didn’t play out as he imagined, seeing Tim pull into that parking lot and realizing his romantic plot caused leaping butterflies to dance in my stomach. The only disappointment came in seeing his frustration in having the best laid plans ruined by poor timing. It might not have gone as planned, but I was thrilled when he arrived home tonight and handed me a bag with these beauties inside.
I’ll thank him tomorrow night when I wear these on our date.
Aww this is so sweet. My bf & I have been together 5.5 years and I am not a romantic person and neither is he – we both tend to express love by actions so little things like how on occasion he’ll get me a gift for christmas that was something we passed in the store back in May that I casually mentioned liking is incredibly sweet to me. He’s really bad with details (like which date valetnines day is) which almost makes it sweeter that he remembers little things that I like, I think. 🙂
My husband doesn’t take hints. Ever. I have to be direct. Therefore there is no romance.
Blah.
Oh well, with so many other good qualities I suppose romance isn’t all that necessary…
Those are very cute shoes. Kudos to your husband for trying and making an effort. I think those are just as important as the end result.
Those are very cute shoes. Kudos to your husband for the effort. It’s just as important as the end result.
How sweet! And adorable shoes!
I love this! What a great and thoughtful husband you have. I am glad he went ahead and got them even though his surprise was blown. So many other men (and women) would have just gone away and pouted.
Husbands every where take notes!
Haha! Cute story and cute shoes
Thank goodness you fell in love with red shoes and not black or brown. He would have been stumped for sure!
So awesome that he tried to surprise you with them. That bad timing thing has a way of doing that, but hopefully a story you can both chuckle at for years to come.