success.

I did it.  I bought couches.

I was wildly hung over as we entered the dreaded furniture store.  "Ok!  Let’s do this!"  Keith was entirely too delighted.  I had embarrassed myself and him at his work Christmas party the night before, instead of playing the role of lovely classy girlfriend I had envisioned.  But that was over now, the damage done, I thought.  Now to couches.

We sat on brown couches, white couches, leather, suede, microfibre.  Keith pointed out several two-tone couches.  He knows nothing, just as I suspected.  Two-tone couches.  Barf.  I felt nauseous.  But for real.  Not about couches, let’s not get dramatic.  Stupid cheap wine.  Stupid Kaitlin. 

We sat, we hummed and hawwed.  I rolled my eyes and held my stomach and complained loudly.  I didn’t want puffy couches – they were for families.  I didn’t want soft material – what if I spilled?  Two-tone?  TWO-TONE?  Please.

We met a sales guy.  He brought me to an ugly couch I told him I hated.  Poor guy.  He said Hmmm, I think I have one for you.  And brought us to the other side of the warehouse-like store.  He showed me the same couch set the GM had shown me a week before.  I had liked it, but thought Keith would hate it.  In a few years he’d have to deal with these couches too.  I wanted to be considerate.  Not as considerate as to allow two-tone couches in my home, but considerate nonetheless.

He loved these couches.  Thank GOD, I thought.  "Wrap it up.  We’ll take it." I said.  "Yes, the loveseat too."  All I wanted was to be outside, breathing in real air.

Then he saw the tvs.

"Why don’t we look now?  They’ve got a great sale on.  We could finance it all together."

So he talked electronics with another nice sales guy and I nodded or looked wistfully at the doors, wishing I hadn’t convinced him we needed to do this particular shopping task today.

"What do you think?" someone asked.  I came to and realized they were talking to me.  "Ummmm………… I don’t care?"  They laughed.  Silly girl, she knows nothing about tvs.  I really don’t care though.  Is it a big tv?  Will it play shows?  Super.  I’ll take it.

So we sat and financed and talked options and delivery and surcharges and discounts.  Keith was all kinds of reasonable and lovely and friendly and wonderful.  I mostly zoned out and handed them my id and credit card.

We took the tv home and the couches are to be delivered on Saturday.  Keith hooked the tv up while I cooked dinner.  By that time I was over the hangover and back to pleasant.

He called me in to look at his handiwork and I pretended like it didn’t look like any other tv to me.  Really shiny frame, though.  I like that.

He loked at me and said, "We bought a tv.  You and me.  We own it."  and he hugged me.

I’ve never been so grateful as I am right now in my life.  We own something, together.  It’s silly, really.  Just a tv.  But I could see he had the same giddiness in his eyes as I felt.  It was ours.