Valentine Gift

It's Tuesday, February 7, 2023. A week from now will be Valentine's Day. So I wanted to pick up a few gifts for my partner, Nuria. I asked her about rings and necklaces and if she wanted to go with me to a jewelry store to look at some. She said no, she didn't want jewelry. 

So yesterday I drove to a store and bought three items I thought she might like. I was guessing, of course, but I had reason to think she would like the items I bought.

I returned home and presented the first item to her. "I just bought one of those," she replied.

I presented the second item to her. "I just bought one of those, too," she replied.

In baseball, three strikes and you're out.

I presented the third item to her. She loved it.

It was something for the kitchen, simple and inexpensive: a Ninja Fit blender. I would describe it to you, but everyone knows what a blender is and how it works. This one works very well. As it happens, I recently began a juice diet (a partial diet for now; I still eat some solid food) so the juicer will be used by both of us.

I know what you're thinking—"You bought her a cheap juicer? Cheapskate!"

My response is: "What did you expect me to buy her—a car?" Well, as it so happens, I did help her buy a car just last month, after her previous vehicle was wrecked by a driver who drove into her car. Insurance paid for most of the cost of the replacement car, but Nuria and I each chipped in a substantial amount to get the car she wanted. But that's another story.

Now, I don't mind spending money on a gift, it's just that I'm lazy and I hate shopping. And I have little imagination, so I can't imagine what a woman would want in terms of a gift. Plus, all women are different. And what man can figure out the female brain? Scientists can't do it. Ordinary men can't do it. As far as I know, only advice columnists can decode the female mind, and I don't know any of those. Advice columnists, that is.

But all in all, I'm thankful there is a Valentine's Day, or else I wouldn't have such a nice blender to make smoothies. I meant to say, Nuria wouldn't have such a nice blender. That I can borrow to make smoothies.

I purchased a blender for my kitchen a few years ago, but it's the kind that separates the solids from the liquid. I think drinking the peel with the juice is probably healthier than just drinking the juice. And the old blender takes longer to clean after using it. I have to disassemble it and clean each part with a brush, then let the parts dry, then reassemble it. Cleaning the new blender is basically a rinse-and-let-dry operation. 

But now I have to start planning. Nuria has a birthday in June, and Christmas is only 321 days away. I barely have time to think of her next gift before it's time to give it to her. I guess it's inherited. My dad was exactly the same way. Every Christmas, he would drive to a nearby drugstore late on Christmas Eve and buy my mother something simple like panties. I was just a kid and still I felt bad for my mother. She bought gifts for everyone. And wrapped them, and put them under the tree. She deserved better. But dad was a hard-working, hard-drinking man, who did such things as gift-buying at the very last minute. I think he knew better, and I can't believe he didn't feel some remorse over his last minute Christmas shopping.

I guess I inherited some of my dad's DNA. In fact, I know I did: half of my DNA is his. As for my mother, she was a worrier, and I inherited that. I worry about buying gifts. There should be someone I can pay to gift-shop for me. But then, they would surely end up buying the wrong things, and I'm already good at doing that.