Other than back and forth to school, I don’t go anywhere. Even at school, I see about three adults every day (thank you, COVID) and so every couple of weeks, James knows that I get itchy to get out of the house and do something. Only there’s just so much nothing to do. The best we tend to conjure up is to run errands. I use the term “run errands” quite loosely as our marriage combined a middle child with a youngest and so our errands generally have no list, rarely even have a direction and seldom accomplish whatever we set out to do (my dad is so disappointed in me right now). But it’s a chance for me to ride in the passenger seat, to comment on things along the way, to sing crazy songs together and to converse about anything but school for a change.

James knows this. He knows that it’s never about the destination or crossing things off a list (now even my sister is disappointed in me). He knows that I have no set plan when we leave the house other than to leave.the.house. And so he does everything he can to make running errands fun. He uses props in stores to serenade me. He puts on crazy hats or glasses and acts like a clown. He will spell things with decorative letters. He will pose with enormous stuffed sloths or stand up cut-outs of Paula Dean. He will make snarky comments about what we should buy (usually suggesting all the things his mom keeps trying to give us). He will suggest that I buy slippers just so Trudy can bury them in the back yard. In short, he spends the entire time making me laugh.

We set out today with gift cards in hand and an agenda that included getting roma tomato seeds and bird seed, and that was literally it. He entertained me in each store we browsed and never said a word when we left empty-handed. I’m sure there’s a million things he could have been doing out in his barn. I’m sure he could have happily browsed for tools or tools or maybe even some tools, but he wandered around with me wherever I went and did his best to embarass me (and our nephew. Poor kid. He never should have gotten a job at Menard’s. Or he should pay his mom off to not tell James when he is working.)

Today, in the middle of Kohl’s, he proposed. Sort of. It was a beautiful ring, I have to admit. He does have remarkable taste.

And to this man who knows just when I need it and just how to make me laugh, I would have said yes a thousand times over. And I even would have worn that tacky ring. Because a spouse that makes you laugh is a blessed thing indeed.