I'm gonna tell everyone the story of our Valentine's Day/Anniversary so we can all point at the Sullivan's and chuckle. I think one of the biggest mistakes we have made as a couple has been to marry on Saint Valentine's big day. Not because we get one less gift, as some of Jenna's friends have told her, but because of the pressure. When you have to select a gift to represent both events, the pressure is on to get the perfect gift for the other. I began my research a few weeks before the big day. The 2nd anniversary is represented by Cosmos flowers and either cotton (traditional) or china (modern). We have enough china to build the Great Wall and Jenna's pregnant so clothing was out (as was linens, towels, etc. cause we can start a thrift store off that stuff alone). So I knew I was going to have to be creative. With the help of my mother on the phone, I went to jewelry stores in search of jewelry made out of china. Well stores don't carry china jewelry, but they will order it. Both Wedgewood and Lennox make china jewelry and will express deliver in time for St. Valentine's celebration. I order a broach that was very pretty and looked a lot like Jenna. At the same time, unbeknown to me, my wife was at Rick's bakery ordering a replica of the top layer of our wedding cake. In case you didn't know, wedding cake is my favorite food group. So we go through the next few days feeling pretty good about ourselves. Mine goes wrong first. I go by on Monday (Feb 13) to pick up my wife's thoughtful, unique gift. It was hideous. It had a lot of gold leaf painting all over it. It was hideous. The picture in the catalog must have been airbrushed more than the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. It was like ordering a Lexus and having a Pinto delivered. Luckily, the store did not make me pay for it and sent it back. The problem was I am now 24 hours from exchanging gifts with my wife and I have nothing, zilch, nada for her. I hit the mall that night and found nothing. That night I lay in bed awake and resigned myself to giving her something other than china or cotton. I had the gift in my mind, but I will not share it here, instead I have filed it back as my emergency gift for the future. Also, in case you were wondering, I had cosmos seeds delivered to her office on Valentine's Day, so the gift was all I needed. The next morning, I call the store of my emergency gift, and...out of stock. It will be in, in 3 weeks. Crud. I have inspiration though and spend my morning calling jewelry stores between patients all day. At 2'o clock I was freed from the shackles of the public schools and went to a jewelry store that said they had a lot of unique china keepsakes, picture frames, etc. I found a beautiful figurine of a husband and wife made by Lennox made out of, you guessed it, china. It was on sale for 50% off. If that wasn't God smiling on me I don't know what it was. I also called Things Remembered and ordered a brass door knocker with "The Sullivan's" engraved in it. I had liked the gift the night before when I was there looking, but was holding out on spending my money elsewhere. I get through at 4:30 and call my lovely wife. She was "preparing" the house for my arrival and I was not allowed to come home yet. I ran a few errands and called again to see if I was allowed home yet. I was met with a conversation I will never forget.
Jenna was crying. Not the kind of crying where a kid on the playground called you stupid, but the kind of crying that would shame Niagara Falls. She was sobbing uncontrollably. The only words I could understand were "Its ruined, sob, sob, its ruined, sob, sob, sob, sob." Ok, I love my wife but she's been a litle over emotional this trimester. I wanted to be sympathetic but I knew whatever had happened was going to be ok. I calmed her enough for her to say "Just come home sob, sob, its ruined." I race home to see the disaster. I find her standing in the kitchen with mascara all down her face. Then I notice our wedding picture on a stand on the counter and a couple of wrapped gifts. Sandwiched between these was a cake on a cake stand. It looked really sweet. I thought, "How cool she had a couple of 2nd graders make a cake for me." The icing was smeared all over it and it kind of tilted alarmingly in one direction. It was pretty obvious, but I had to ask anyway. "What's wrong sweetie?" Well I'll cut to the chase since I'm tired of typing the word sob, just believe me there was a lot of them. The cake shop had made a replica of our wedding cake, and I'm sure it was lovely. She took the cardboard the cake was on and set it on our cake stand. She then was going to take a picture of it before I got home. She also had bought an "I love you" balloon. She took the string tied to the balloon and tilted the cake stand to place the string under the cake pan when the cardboard under the cake and the crystal in the cake stand tried an experiment to see if the friction between them could hold a 3 pound cake when gravity pulls the cake after the stand is tilted. In the end, Newton won. The cake slid off the the cake stand, shot over the counter, turned in midair, and crashed face down on the dining room rug on the other side of the counter. She walked around and was amazed at how well she was holding it together. That is until she tried to tilt he cake back onto the cardboard and it began to fall apart. Somehow she got the cake somewhat back together and onto the counter before she realized what had just happened. I had called 15 seconds later. Luckily they put about an inch of icing on the cake. In the end, we picked the hairs off it and made it look respectable. The flowers on top and the scrollwork on the sides was of course gone, but at least it was a whole cake and in the end its the thought that counts right? I'll also go ahead and tell you, since everyone who has heard the story has asked. The cake was fantastic :)
