BY NORBERT RUG
For the past 50 years, I’ve gotten Donna whatever she wanted. She loves our ensuite addition I recently had put on the house. She has a newer minivan that I bought her that I think she loves more than she loves me (Just joking).
She has enough jewelry. I’ve bought her diamonds but she won’t wear them because she is afraid of losing them. Much of the jewelry I have bought her over the years she doesn’t wear for this reason. Forget me buying her clothing. Our tastes are polar opposites.
I don’t like to buy her things because the calendar or Hallmark says I am supposed to. That’s so pedestrian. Days like Valentine’s Day, Sweetest Day, Birthdays or even Christmas. I prefer to give her gifts throughout the year just because I love her.
I had to stop giving her stuffed animals because they were starting to take over our bedroom and she never gets Valentine’s Day candy till February 15th when everything is half price. It’s the thought that counts.
I also like to make sure there are fresh cut flowers in the house in fact for our 36th anniversary I gave her 3 dozen red roses. It smelled like a funeral parlor in our house for a while.
In spite of this no-gift policy, I racked my brain to come up with the perfect gift. After all, we only have one 50th wedding anniversary. She deserves something special for putting up with me for half a century.
So I decided on giving her the gift of a week of dinners out. I knew she would enjoy that. The following is what I decided on.
Friday 8/2: Fish fry Friday: Village Eatery. A good coating that doesn’t fall off the fish. The Cole Slaw is delicious and chopped not stringy. They gave us so much food that we split a dinner.
Saturday 8/3: Seafood Saturday: Storming Crab, Maple Road Amherst. Butcher paper table cloths and you can eat off the table if you want. You throw the shells into a bucket. I’ve been wanting to have a Louisiana style, eat off the table meal for quite some time. No Styrofoam doggie bags here either. They package your food in a plastic boiling bag to bring home. One steamer meal was enough for the two of us with enough left over for lunch at a later date. EXCELLENT!
Sunday 8/4: Saigon Bangkok, Transit Road Amherst. Once inside, you would not know from the décor and ambiance that you were in a restaurant in a strip mall. They have vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. One of our new favorite restaurants. Again more lunch leftovers. AWESOME!!! We definitely will be back.
Monday 8/5: Mighty Taco. Always good. Always reliable. Veteran and senior discounts. We usually hit them up a few times a month. They are good, fast and have a reasonable amount of menu selections
Tuesday: 8/6: Teds Hotdogs. A favorite any time of the year. Who doesn’t love a char grilled Salem’s hot dog? Everything else is just a wiener. This is fast food cooked to order without being burgers and fries.
Try the potato salad it is excellent. I have eaten at Ted’s since the 60’s when they were in a “tool shed” at the foot of Massachusetts Avenue under the newly constructed Peace Bridge in Buffalo.
Wednesday 8/7: I was going to go with Wendy’s to keep the restaurant’s first letter being the first letter of the day but 3 fast food in a row was a bit too much for me so I went with Wings Wednesday. She got to pick where from. Her choice was 7-11. We’ve had these before and they are large, meaty, inexpensive and delish. I suppose if they don’t have them we can always go get wings from Wagner’s.
Thursday 8/8: Steak Stone and Sushi. (The kids are taking us). I like Sushi but my wife won’t eat raw fish. She usually has Tempura Shrimp. SS&S is one of our faves.
Our anniversary was on Friday 8/9 so I decided it would be anything goes Friday. She selected Fried oysters and frog legs from The Kitchen, on Washburn an “Upstate Southern” restaurant in Lockport and if we can’t get them from there, then we will get oysters from Montondo’s Seafood in Lockport.
I sprinkled a few other gifts in there like a gold infinity bracelet that represents our never-ending love and an ankle bracelet in the same motif.
As I think about it I realize that my gift to her was not dinners out but time. Time she didn’t have to spend cooking, cleaning up, washing dishes and trying to figure out what to cook next.
This freed her up to pursue a few of the things she liked doing like reading, relaxing on our porch swing or reading while relaxing on our porch swing.
Yes, it has been fifty years of ups and downs, hard times and good times, a wild and sometimes crazy ride, but I would not want to trade even one second of our lives together for anything.
143 Donna
Norb is a happily married man and has been for 50 years who lives in Lockport.
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