john b. flushing

Archive for the ‘The Engagement Diaries’ Category

Nearly two weeks ago I left home to meet my fiance for lunch and to look at properties. On the way down to meet her I drove through an excessive amount of pouring rain. Everything had cleared up when I reached the restaurant, but I noticed a wall cloud in the distance. While eating at Chuy’s the waitress alerted us that the tornado sirens were going off outside and that we might want to stay longer while it blew over. As we got ready to walk out the sideways rain ripped through the parking lot, so we opted for the bar for a drink. An hour later I was told that the interstate I had just traveled down was flooded and that they were sending out boats (on the interstate) to rescue drivers.

Once I realized that I wasn’t likely to get home, I bought some cheap boxers from a bargain bin and headed to the future-in-laws (where I’d spend the next few days). I got back home on Monday afternoon to find that my office had suffered greatly. Hoping to get moved to another office by Monday. In the meantime I’ve made myself available and have been packing up for the move and have also secured a place to live for our first married year. I didn’t realize how old and dated my apartment is until we started looking for a new place. Published prices are definitely negotiable…we got a great deal. I’m trying to be proactive since I usually procrastinate and am late to everything.

I’m very excited about the new place. I’ll finally get to have a grill again, the bike won’t be stored in the living room, we’ll have a computer room /man room, and a guest bedroom. The wedding is approaching and that has been a little stressful…I put my nerd skills to work and built a database for the guest list so we could easily keep up with RSVP and thank you notes.

On the flood side, I did not personally have any flooding or damage, I live on top of a hill and was out of town for all of the rain. I do have many friends who were affected personally and some professionally. National news has only scratched the surface on the financial blow delivered by this disaster, but on the up side…it has also created alot of jobs for people who have been out of work. Keep on keepin’ on Nashville. This city has been great to me and to alot of other people too. It will bounce back!

The plaid pants adventures took place last weekend after my fiance and I had attended a Saturday afternoon  wedding and then spent the latter part of the day shopping for a blazer for me and then stopping by a national department store to begin the registry process for our own wedding coming up in June.

I found a blazer in about 15 minutes, then my fiance decided she would go on downstairs and start looking at china, flatware, etc. while I checked out some other stuff in men’s clothing. I looked for a few minutes and then found the raddest pair of plaid pants I’d seen in years. I tried them on, paid for them and was happy as  could be …until I got downstairs.

I was immediately met with resistance…”what the…(grabs the receipt out of my hand)..you spent $70 on a pair of pants that looked like they fell out of your grandfathers attic?” Then the lady from the store asks if we’re finding everything alright, when my fiance responds ” we haven’t even started on this yet…I’m yelling at him about some ugly plaid pants he just bought.”

I’m sure we were a real joy to deal with. I agreed on all the flatwear and china and decided that taking her to dinner would be the wise thing to do. We left the store and I decided to call my sister and see if she’d like to meet us for dinner (meanwhile, fiance is on the phone with her mother in the passenger seat) when a car cuts me off to get in the turn lane, then goes straight on through the stop light instead of turning. She’s on the phone with her mother still, I’m yelling out  “you dumb motherf*cker” to the idiot who just cut me off then barged on through traffic. Now i’m getting yelled at  for yelling obscenities while  also trying to leave a voice mail for my sister.  I’m sure that all of this is because of the “plaid pants” I had just purchased.

My sister calls me back and lets me know she and her dude are meeting us for dinner and then we argue all the way to the restaurant (for 15 minutes) over how awesome I think the pants are and how much she absolutely hates them.  I’m quickly losing this battle. (…to be continued)