This will Cheer you up!

Juan bought me some chocolates and flowers to thank me for taking good care of him while he was sick. This is the second time Juan has bought me flowers since we got married... so I was pretty excited. Now don't get the wrong impression... Juan is pretty good about saying all the gushy lovey things people say when they are, as the Japanese say, in Lovu-Lovu, but his first flower buying experience in Japan has really deterred him from buying any again. Let me explain...

Not long after we moved to Tokyo, I came home to find a nice little bouquet of tiny white and yellow chrysanthemums on the table. I thanked Juan for the nice little gift and went about arranging them in a vase.

Then Juan asks "What's wrong with them???"

"What's wrong with what?" I say. " You mean the flowers? Nothing is wrong with them. They're very pretty. Thank you so much for them!". Then I go over to the computer, sit on his lap and give him a kiss in gratitude.

"No. Something is wrong with them. What's wrong with them? When I bought them at the supermarket the florist guy gave me a wired look. And when I asked for gift wrapping, he gave me an even stranger look. What's wrong with them?" he questioned.

And then I had to fess up and tell him the truth. " Honey, first of all thank you so much for thinking of me and buying me some flowers. That was sooooo nice of you. But the reason the guy looked at you so strangely was because . . . because those flowers are for the dead. You Bought Funeral Flowers!

"I did?"

"Sorry baby, you did. Chrysanthemums in arrangements like you bought me are known to keep for a long time and are common flowers that you either put on someones grave or that you would put on your ancestors alter in you home. That's why the guy looked at you so strangely... you were buying flowers for the dead."

"God Dammit!!!" exclaimed Juan. "I try to do something extra nice and I mess it up. That's the last time I buy you flowers!!! "

"HAHAHAHAHA !!!! "

I knew eventually he would come around. Please enjoy the fruits of my flower waiting patience.