The book I bought on Monday teaches about communication between men and women. It is described as the language of blue and pink and how so many marriages get lost in translation. I am not surprised by this at all. I don’t know how I expect J to know what I want when a lot of times I don’t even know myself.

For example, the first thing J told me when he woke up on mother’s day was that he didn’t get a card. I said “It’s okay. I don’t care about cards. Mother’s day really isn’t a big deal for me.” By the end of the day I was exhausted from playing outside with the kids who had gone inside and tracked mud all through the house and this was after a long list of other things that were a far cry from Kodak moments. J was playing guitar for a Sunday night worship service and I was at home on my hands and knees scrubbing mud off the floor realizing that I DO care about mother’s day!
I wanted to avoid a repeat of this for my birthday so SEVERAL weeks before the date I sent him an email titled “Birthday Wishes” and it stated exactly what I wanted including that I don’t want to go shopping for my birthday, and an amazon wish list for gift ideas. The reason I was so specific was because in years past when he says “how about we go shopping and you can pick out something for your birthday” I hear “I forgot about your birthday and don’t feel like doing anything for you, but here is some money.”
He ignored my wish list and got me a purse because he knew I needed a new one and he knew I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. Ironically, I did find what I was looking for at a thrift store (on the right of the photo below) the same day he found this Fossil bag for me (shown on left)! I told him he obviously did a great job because we both bought almost identical bags and his bag was actually a lot nicer.
I suggested that since I couldn’t take my purse back I would return his and then go shopping with the money. He was shocked since that is the exact opposite of what I said I had wanted. This is true, but really what I wanted was to know that he put forth some effort in finding something special for me, which he did. So now I have a new purse and a bunch of other stuff. Happy birthday to me.