I left my house early to drive to Cleveland. My oldest daughter had one of her classes and would pick me up from her house so that we could drive to the Florist in Lakewood, Ohio, to pick out the flowers for her wedding.
I left early, basically so that I would have a few hours to myself to unwind from a long two weeks of helping everybody from babysitting, to working at the greenhouse, to preparing and delivering food for my daughter, the caterer, while she was in Italy. Being alone looked pretty good to me.
While driving my 1999 Mustang, I noticed the car could use some gas and I could use some coffee. I stopped, passed on the coffee but filled up my car with gas. I drove about two miles when I actually felt my car change gears or shift or maybe it felt more like a bucking motion. I guess for a Mustang that shouldn't be unusual but then this was a car and not a real horse. Or, maybe I was just going too fast, which isn't unusual for me. Whatever it was, the car just didn't feel right. I pulled over to the slow moving lane, and then on to the berm of the road where I parked.
I put on my right hand turn signal and said, "Oh crap! What now?" The cars and trucks sped passed me on the turnpike. After a lull in the traffic, I cautiously got out of the car to see if maybe I had a flat tire. More trucks flew by and my hair swirled around. I was thankful that I didn't have on a dress because I would have looked like that famous photo of Marilyn Monroe with her standing on a grate and the air blowing her dress around. Yeah, except without the blond hair, white dress, mole and sultry smile. The rain came down, and the 18-wheelers kept whizzing by which added to my distress. Nope, no flat tires, as I eased myself back into my car, thankful that I hadn't been killed by the rushing traffic.
I am not the best in emergencies, especially when I am alone. This was the one time that I had remembered my cell phone and used it, and called my son. Even though I was an hour and a half from home, I needed advice or a human voice to reassure me. Pat responded to my dilemma, "Put on your hazard lights, get into the slow moving lane, and get to a gas station for help."
I sat for a few minutes, took a deep breath, and did exactly what he told me to do. I drove slowly at first with my hazard lights flashing, and then I slowly started to accelerate. Nothing happened. The car seemed fine and I turned off my hazard lights, moved over into the fast lane, and drove with the rest of the traffic. With the small delay, I still arrived at my daughter's house with plenty of time to be alone. Eventually, my daughter's fiance would check out my car and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. Maybe I had some bad gas; in the car and not in me.
Our appointment to pick out flowers was at 2:00. It was now 11:30, and eating was first on our priority list. We headed for Danny Boys Restaurant that is close by the flower shop. The restaurant is a small Italian one with delicious food. We started out with a small salad and the most amazing Italian bread. Out came a bowl of homemade pasta sauce and a giant meatball, along with more Italian bread to soak up the sauce. Then came a deep-dish pizza...that we didn't need but we each indulged in a slice of the pizza. We had enough food left over, to take home for another meal.
Close by was the Wild Flour Bakery. They would be providing the cake for my daughter's wedding. We each bought an item for dessert, and it would give us a good idea of what the cake for the wedding would taste like. Dessert would have to wait because we were both stuffed from the food that we consumed at lunch. To be honest, that was the only meal we ate, until dinner. We both had skipped breakfast.
Another few blocks down the road was Brennan's Florist. We spent an hour going over books of wedding flowers. The Florist who helped us was excellent and easy going. My daughter had some thoughts about the flowers for the wedding. I had a list that I wrote down with her thoughts and mine. After telling the Florist what we would like, his response was, "That does nothing for me." My thought was...your not in the wedding party. I kept that to myself. The Florist had his own thoughts and in the end the three of us came to an agreement on what flowers we would have for the wedding. I think that my list only contained one flower that we would use at the wedding.
I gave the Florist a cash deposit and he would send us the contract and the bill, and we would pay for the flowers a month before the wedding. As we sat in the car, with the pleasant aroma of the left over food, my daughter pointed out two things that we had done that were wrong. First, I had given the deposit in cash and didn't receive a receipt. Second, we never asked for some kind of idea as to how much this might cost. I groaned, and not from the food, but from the two mistake that we had made. I would have a sleepless night worrying about the cost but in the end, I thought...it is for my daughter and the flowers that we selected were going to be beautiful. Three weeks later, we did receive the contract and the credit for the cash deposit. The total cost of the flowers was not outlandish, or out of line, and we both breathed easier for our decision.
The time spent at the Florist ended up to be a pleasant one hour with my daughter, who looked overwhelmed at all the choices that the Florist showed her. Since I work in a greenhouse, I was a bit more knowledgeable...my daughter let me add my two cents worth. Well, actually more then that. We shared in the selections; each with our own thoughts and neither one of us caused any disharmony. We didn't get angry or snappy or overbearing. It all worked out fine, despite the blue frosting streak on my cheek, a small piece of bread, tomato sauce, and green basil sticking to my upper gum and teeth. It's pretty hard to get that stuff removed from my teeth without the aid of a toothbrush or floss - you know. Even harder not to smile at the Florist and talk to him with my upper lip covering my teeth. But, I pulled it off quite well.
