Feeling the Burn

What makes this mom's eyes burn with unshed tears?  Well, for starters you can send her to the flower shop to pick up the flowers for tonight's Homecoming Dance.  Tom says he can't wait to see what happens when Corey gets married (he anticipates that he and Mad will each need a tissue, but that they'll each carry giant boxes of them just for me).

It's pretty typical in my family to mess around with one another.  So when we went to order the flowers yesterday (yes, I know we should have done it sooner but when you have a Corey, the wise parent waits to expend any money until it's practically a lock... we bought his outfit today), he immediately texted Lisa and told her that all they had were pink (her least favorite color) and a mustardy orange. 

If I didn't already think Lisa was pretty sweet, her response sealed the deal, "Oh, sounds pretty."

Also pretty typical for us, Corey couldn't keep the joke going.  He immediately let her know that they were getting red roses and black ribbon.  (Yes, the girl traditionally gets the boutonniere, but all the places around here do a low-priced two-fer bargain.)

And here's where I knew Lisa was the girl for me... erm... I mean, the girl for Corey, "Hooray.  I'm gonna kick your A$$!"

Yeah, she's gonna be just fine around here.

Here's another way they fit well together:  They both neglect to give accurate, up-to-date information to their parents.

Last week when he bought the tickets, Corey told me that the dance started at 6:00.  Today we invited Lisa's parents to bring her over at 4:00.  That'll give us about half an hour to fumble with flowers, giggle and have lots of pictures taken before Tom chauffeurs them to dinner.  When they're done, he'll pick them up and take 'em to the dance.  Dinner's about 15 minutes away from us and 20 from the school.  Nice relaxed pace, but not too much extra time, right?

This afternoon Tom asks Corey when the dance starts.  "I think it's at 6:30."  He continued on in what I can only assume was an attempt to hang out later than the kids are supposed to, but I'll spare you those details.  Suffice to say that Chauffeur Tom will be asking when the dance is really over.

Back to the time... I called Lisa's mom and said they should come a little later if the dance isn't starting at 6:00 like we originally thought.  Shirley had heard it was 7:00.  So she and I have settled on 4:45 with the possibility of their being a little later than that. 

This is a shot of the flowers.  I was afraid to move them too much, lest they fall apart and I become the worst mother in the world.  Again.