St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Nineteen-Eighty-Six
Valentine's Day, nineteen-eighty-six and I just met Arlene (future ex-wife) a few weeks before; we weren't actually dating at that point, just went out a few times.
Worked at AT&T then, in an open area, where there were nine desks, three by three. My phone rang and it turned out to be the security desk. The guard said there were a dozen roses just delivered for me. It took a while for him to convince me, but went down stairs and, sure enough, there were a dozen roses with my name on the envelope.
Opened the card, and they were from Arlene. Never received flowers from a woman before, so felt weird as I carried them to the elevator and back up to my desk. Some strange looks from co-workers, but explained who they were from and things quickly went back to normal.
Normal didn't last long, not after my phone rang - again.
It was the guard, telling me (through his laughs) that a dozen roses were just delivered for me.
I asked my friend Heidi to come down with me in case it was a joke.
It wasn't. There, on the desk, was another dozen red roses with my name on the envelope.
Opened the card, expecting to see Arlene's name, but they weren't from her.
Around the same time I met Arlene, my friend Dave introduced me to a friend of his (and I can't, for the life of me, remember her name). We'd gone out a few times, and for some reason, she was the one that sent me the flowers.
Once again, the odd walk back to my desk, and the quizzical looks on my co-workers face did not stop for the rest of the day.
So, what to do? Two women, new acquaintances, clearly expressed an interest (as I did) but I'm not one to date two woman at a time (it was unique if I dated one woman at a time).
At the crossroads, I chose Arlene. I felt the other woman was a bit too eccentric for my personality.
In hindsight, that was not the criterion I should have used to gauge my decision.
A month or so later, while still at the beginning of my relationship with Arlene, I decided to send her flowers.
Later, she told me that she was ready to break up with me because she felt our relationship was going nowhere. But, when she received the flowers, she decided to give our relationship a second chance.
If I hadn't sent the flowers, things would have ended with Arlene then and there...
And here I thought flowers were my friend...damn you flowers...damn you.
