I was very romantic and thoughtful the first several years of my marriage. I think I still am... I remember one year in particular on Valentines Day. I had planned to stop at the store after work and pick up some roses or a box of candy. My wife was working on her undergraduate degree at Carolina. At the time we were on a very tight budget. I was working in the office of a plumbing and heating wholesaler downtown. An FTD florist van pulled up front of the office. Then the delivery man brought in a dozen beautiful red roses. They had been sent to our switchboard operator. I forgot what caused it but the price of roses had spiked from around $10.00 to around $60.00 a dozen. The switchboard operator immediately tossed the roses in the trash can. She said her boyfriend who sent them was a jerk and she was never going out with him again. Apparently they had a big fight the night before. I asked her if I could buy the roses and she told me I could have them. I seized on the opportunity and had my Valentines present. They say every rose has a thorn. The thorn for me turned out to be the ladies' office gossip. They thought it was disgraceful that I gave my wife second hand roses pulled out the trash can. I was a scum ball. I did however tell my wife how I acquired the roses. I knew
it would get back to her at the next office party if I did not. She actually was very proud of me and reminded me how broke we were.
She was always very frugal. She drove me to the drugstore that evening and picked out a fitting card for me. Then she called me over to the card section and read it to me. Next she put it back on the shelf. We saved a lot of money that Valentines Day. I never told the ladies at the office about my card.
