Birthdays and Leather Coats

transcribed from a comment on Lara's Blog

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To commiserate, my wife and kids forgot my birthday for the last two years...

hmmm (further thought)

"And the husband? Well... he told me he was going to get me one of those kneeling computer chairs for my birthday. That's great, because I have some back problems and I know it would be good for me. Plus I had it on a list of gift suggestions sitting around on my desktop, so he knew he was getting something I wanted. Only then last night he told me I could order one."

Sounds familiar - you're husband may have genetic material or psychic space in common with my wife.

Last Christmas season, my wife had been extremely regularly saying she wanted power tools for over 8 months.

Being the swift guy I am, I took this as a hint

So, 2 days before christmas I said something to the effect of "Well, i'm off to pick up the most interesting of the power tools" (I hadn't mentioned my gift purchase prior to that, but she had made some reference to me buying power tools [I wanted to show I was an attentive and responsive mate/male/husband]).

My dear wife then said (with a hurt tone in her voice) "You mean you didn't get me a leather coat?"

I said "Oh. I thought you wanted power tools."

She said "Well, that's OK, I suppose."

I left. I returned all the power tools. I bought a full length insulated (she always feels cold) leather coat - a REALLY nice one - full price (didn't have 6 months to shop around for a bargain).

It was a hit. I couldn't afford it, but I knew it needed to be as good or better than the ones her sisters had.

I also bought other clothing items, and a plethora of gifts with/for the kids to give her.

As for me, I got a sweater that she had puchased from a designer discount store (I saw it there one time while standing around waiting - she had asked me if I liked it) - $25.

My daughter gave me a hand drawn card - it is still on my bulletin board. My son felt bad he hadn't thought of getting me a gift. Mrs. didn't seem to notice about the kid gifts.

Come spring, it was nearing our anniversary. The winter insulated coat was now too warm - I heard about this a lot.

Another expensive spring/summer weight leather coat later my anniversary giift was an astounding success (price only mentioned, because while I am doing decently financially, I am not rich. With kids/lessons $700-$1000 is still a chunk of change that requires thought before shelling out).

Mrs. also loved the kids gifts (reminders and shopping trip for the kids courtesy of yours truly).

I got a shirt from the same discount designer shop ($20). Did I mention that my wife makes about 10% more than me? We split household bills equally. She has no car payment, I do.

My daughter made me another card. I pre-emptively told my son it was OK.

My birthday is this weekend.

We'll see.

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transcribed from a comment on Lara's Blog