Monday, May 11, 2009

Mother's Day 2009

What a wonderful Mother's Day this year. I received a beautiful card from Jonas that he made at daycare. It had his painted handprints on the cover and a sweet message on the inside. I'll probably end up keeping this forever.

We were treated to Joe's waffles first thing, then we all hung out for awhile until it warmed up a bit. We threw Jonas in the backpack (not literally) and headed off for our beloved Central Park, where we hit the trails for an hour. Joe introduced me to an entire new network of trails that have been recently cut. Aside from the relaxation factor, it was also a sort of "recon mission". I wanted to scope out the new trails and get myself psyched up for lots of trail running this summer and fall. It only took a minute and suddenly, I was *itching* to run!

Joe's present to me was the other thing that made this Mother's Day this so wondeful. Now, I'm not really all about the presents. In fact, this is so much more about the distance Joe went to find a find a nice gift, in spite of my mulish behavior and recent surly disposition. Jonas' obsession with pressing all the buttons on my phone, resulted in the "blue screen of death". Since then, Joe and I have been in search of a new phone for me. Ever the pragmatist, Joe tried to convince me to retire my pda and get a combo cell phone/pda (i.e. smart phone). I wasn't completely opposed to this idea, but it had to meet my many criteria:

1) I like my stylus and I'm not giving it up,
2) I'd like a pull out keyboard,
3) I'd like some tactile feedback on the screen, but it's not a pre-requisite,
4) A touch screen is cool, but I don't want to be limited to ONLY touch methods of data entry
5) It had to be relatively inexpensive (we're in the midst of a kitchen renovation and refinancing our home),
6) And the data package couldn't exceed my current phone rate by more than $1.00

Joe accompanied me to each of the cell phone carriers and very patiently explained every option, highlighting the benefits of the newest models of smart phones. He humbly, and patiently, listened to me vent (with a smile) to each salesperson about my disappointment that they seem to be phasing out the stylus and that I can't possibly type notes on such RIDICULOUSLY small keyboards! "Liz, why can't you just compromise a few of your criteria? I swear, you are the ONLY person who actually WANTS outdated technology!" Nonsense. I know what I want, and until I find it, I'm not getting anything. By mid-week last week, I had resolved that I was going to stick to my cell phone and my Palm. I have coped for this long just fine. What's another few years? Little did I know that as I was reporting all of this back to him, he was covertly talking with two of my friends who are big iPhone enthuasiasts, making trips to the AT&T store on his lunch break, researching all the pros and cons of the iPhone, and making plans to try to surprise me with a gift that was supposed to make my life easier. When I removed the gift wrap and saw the Apple logo, I looked up with a crooked grin. Joe...? I had ruled out the iPhone, too expensive, no credit with Verizon, and he knew this. What is going on here? Is this some kind of trap? But I shut up right away, when I saw that Joe had taped his coaching business's business card to the box, indicating that Think Fast Multisport had paid for this and not our family account. I was suddenly reminded why I love him so much. Joe knows the way to my heart is through the checkbook. (ha ha). And to know that he had gone to such trouble all week, despite my rants, just melted my heart. What a guy. And to think, Father's Day isn't for a whole month! So, I can't reciprocate for awhile. Well, I guess I'll just revel in Mother's Day for now. What's that? Joe is going upstairs to change another diaper? Ahhh, I could get used to this. :-)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a guy!!!! Joey melted my heart 30 yrs ago and still does!!! He's the best. Have fun with your new phone and look forward to seeing it. Love Mom V.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Joe, for being so kind and patient with the (my) firstborn. It sounds like a great day was had by all! Hope to see you soon. Love Mom

Marlena said...

jonas is so cute in the backpack. Joe really out did himself for mother's day!