Flowers and White Sauce

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I had meetings after work at the children’s treatment centre. We are in the midst of the planning for an expansion and renovation, and of course fundraising as well. Not a week goes by that I don’t have to drive all the way out there at least once for a meeting after work.  And if it’s a full Board meeting, once a month, I will sometimes be there until 10pm. So why do I do it? Because I love it. I get a sense of purpose from it, something I don’t get from my paying gig. The centre does amazing work at the most crucial time in a child’s development. If not tackled at the right time, the issues some of these children face could be worse and will be with them for the rest of their lives. If the right treatment is applied at the right time, these children have their best shot at reaching their full potential. Who wouldn’t want to be part of such a great place? Add to that the fact that I myself received services there as a child, and you start to get a picture of why this is so dear to me.

But it does take a toll on me some weeks. I hate weeks where I have two or more meetings. I hate the occasional Saturday Board development seminars. Even though they are needed and valuable, umm…hello?….it’s Saturday.

Anyway, this week I was driving home on Wednesday around 7pm having been at meetings the last two nights and I was missing Kelly. I was missing sitting in the den and writing a post or reading some blogs with Kelly nearby, or watching a movie with her, or giving her a foot rub, just being with her. It was snowing lightly and the roads were slick, but I happened to be driving by a place that sells flowers and stopped in anyway to buy some for my sweetie. As it turns out, I got home before Kelly did, and I presented them to her when she arrived about 30 minutes later.

She loved them, and asked what she had done to deserve them. As the list would have been way too long, I chose to answer “just because”, which was true, as it was an impulse buy.

But now comes the funny part. The next day as I was toiling away at the office, (ok I don’t really toil) and I suddenly remembered a conversation Kelly and I had had a few months ago. I had gotten her roses and although she liked them, she later had told me that spending money on such things made her uneasy and she would prefer it if I didn’t. My stomach was in knots. How could I have forgotten? The image of her smiling face accepting the flowers the night before appeared in my mind. I wondered if she was secretly thinking “wow, you are a dork, I told you not to do this” while graciously telling me how beautiful they were. I felt bad. My spontaneous act may have actually made her feel uneasy rather than special and loved.

So the moment we got home I took her aside and apologized. I think this is where she was thinking I was a dork. Of course she loved them. And they DID make her happy and she told me they brightened her day. I suppose knowing I didn’t spend a small fortune on them makes all the difference.

So here they are, the flowers in question. I took this picture yesterday. It had snowed a bit and I thought this was a cool picture. The spring like flowers, and in the background, Sophie covered in fluffy fresh fallen snow.

Oh and I almost forgot. I have to toot my own horn here if I may. I cooked today. Sunday is normally Kelly’s cooking day but I told her I wanted to do it this weekend. I made oven baked Salmon with a dill white sauce, rice, veggies and a salad. And I actually pulled it all off. I must confess to asking Kelly about 35 questions, and she did help me handling the large fillets to wash and pat them dry, but the rest I did pretty much on my own and it turned out pretty darn good. I am most impressed with my white sauce, which was a first try for me. So as long as nobody wakes up with food poisoning, I’d say it’s a complete success.