Yesterday was My Birthday

I'm at an age when I have begun to view birthdays as just another day. So when my husband took out the trash yesterday (here in Tennessee, you take your trash to a dumpsite yourself), I didn't expect him to take over an hour to get back home. When he did come back, he had two half-gallons of ice cream, a cake which said Happy Birthday "Fribble," and a single rose. I thought myself lucky. This is the man who has, after all, forgotten several anniversaries.

But after dinner, he places a jeweler's box on the table beside me. Hm. The plot thickened. Inside was a drop-dead gorgeous amethyst pendant.

"That cost more than anything else I've ever given you," he said.

"More than my engagement ring?" I asked. He nodded. The engagement ring came from the PX at Henderson Hall, the HQ of the Marine Corps. They specialize in jewelry, but it is a PX, nonetheless.

Hm...I thought to myself as the evening wore on. What has he been up to that, as the guys on Car Talk would say, would mean that jewelry should be involved.

Of course, my husband is rarely out of my sight, except now that he has taken up fishing with a neighbor who is a recent widower and needs diversion until he can get his life back on track.

Then I remembered certain purchases over the past year or so. The tilller, the new lawn mower, the chain saw, the new motor for his table saw.

Hm. The amethyst pendant might just about cover it. But how would it ever cross his mind?

Then I remembered that he's become of fan of Desperate Housewives. I think that explains it.