The Post That Never Was

Actually, this could be a whole series of posts.

I meant to talk about the Lakers roller-coaster season long before I actually did; I was going to chime in my two cents on the presidential primaries back in January, I've got oodles of games to mini-review; and of course plenty of OOTS and PVP to talk about.

But this post is about something else entirely.

I take you back to October; as some may remember, it wasn't an awesome time for me. My grandmother had just passed away, my house had been sans renters for months (I know, the more things change, the more they stay the same...), and life was pretty bleh. Brandy wasn't in tons better shape, with a close family friend passing away around the same time and work was driving her nearly insane (again, see above). All in all, not a fabulous time for either of us.

So Brandy decided that we needed an awesome weekend to, you know, make up for things and keep ourselves from bieng in a rut of sorts. She had intended to surprise me, but wasn't too subtle about finding out what time I would be off work, so I knew something was going on.

(In her defense, I sometimes had been getting off work early, depending on how the rest of the week was working out for me, but didn't that day. I should also note that I was only slightly better at surprising her last Christmas, but I digress)

I came home from work on a Friday afternoon - shortly after Brandy and I had been together for six months - to find an envelope taped to my bathroom mirror. It was a note from Brandy telling me to pack a small bag, wear something slightly nice, and meet me at her place. I was surprised by the direction, and couldn't help but smile, glad that Brandy had thought ahead enough to place the note in a location that I would see it.

So, showered and cleaned, I drove over to her place. Arriving at her door, I knocked. No response. I knocked again. No response. So I used my key to her apartment and let myself in.

"But wait!" I hear readers yell. "If you had a key, why did you knock?" Well, I figured that if Brandy had planned something for me I didn't want to surprise her by just bargin in. Knocking gave her a chance to prepare herself.

So in I went, entering into the unknown, bag in hand, and I see a pair of big eyes staring back at me as I walk in the door. "Well hello," I said. Eager to see me, I received a quick reply of:

"Meow."

Brandy was nowhere to be found, and I was left alone in her apartment with her cat! Doing my best Gil Grisom impersonation I began looking for clues. I began by, in fact, making sure she wasn't there. Confirming that, I made a bee-line to her bathroom, hoping to find something there, as there had been at my house. And lo, my detective skills paid off! I found another envelope, with instructions to meet Brandy at a specified address, along with directions. With another lonely meow from the cat to send me off, I was on my way, eagerly awaiting what would come next.

I soon (ok, not exactly "soon," since I had to take the 91 freeway, during rush hour, which always causes problems, but for the sake of the story we'll say soon) I found myself at the address - the Mariott Hotel in Riverside! Finding Brandy, she explained how she felt we needed a "weekend away," (I agreed) and though this wasn't exactly far away, it was indeed away. Expecting an enjoyable weekend, off we went to the elevator.

As we entered the elevator I noticed a small sign which read "Enter room key to access 10th floor." "I wonder what's on the 10th floor..." I mused aloud. "You'll see..." Brandy responded, quite to my surprise, as she put a room key into the slot. I was quite excited by the time we entered and saw a "romantic suite," complete with candles (electric), rose petals, a huge bed and our own hot tub!! On the counter were some chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne, and Brandy's laptop playing romantic music.

Needless to say, we had quite the relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Of course, this is all long hand for me to say: Brandy is wonderful to me, and I am lucky, grateful and oh-so-happy to have her. Everyone should be so blessed.