Where's that gift? - Oops, it's her birthday!

One major flaw that I have always had when it comes to relationships has always involved the act of giving gifts. Now, this doesn't only pertain to relationships. Christmas gifts, wedding gifts, other's birthday gifts. I have always been a procrastinator by nature, and in the case of gift giving I am no different. This has led to some interesting situations that I have gotten myself while attempting to secure gifts at the last moment. Thus I have decided to make a series of posts labeled, "Where's that gift?"

The first installment of the series takes place in the summer following my sophomore year of college. I had stayed in Eugene to take summer classes while my lady friend had gone home to work for the State of Oregon. We would see each other every couple weekends or so during that summer. It was a very carefree lifestyle that I was living. I was only attending school a couple days a week, and mostly was spending the summer relaxing.

This debacle took place one evening in early July. It began innocently enough, as most days had that summer. I was working an 8 hour day at the dreary mall that I had mentioned once before, pretending to sell sports jerseys and hats. Suddenly, my lady friend strolled into the store. I had known that she was coming down for the weekend, but hadn't thought much of it. We spoke for a bit, and she proceeded to head to my apartment until my evening at work was through. Shortly after she left, I suddenly was struck with a frightening realization. I had just realized that it was already her birthday. This event had completely escaped my mind.

The situation was looking bleak. As I had mentioned before, this mall was a wasteland. I had already taken my lunch and break that evening. Target was all the way down the mall, and I didn't want to cause a ruckus by disappearing from work for 20 minutes. This left me only one option. Yes, it had indeed come to this. I would have to jaunt on over to the FYE next door and try to make something special happen. I scoured all 3 aisles of the store in hopes of finding the perfect gift. Desperation had set in, and anything I could piece together would have to work. The final solution consisted of a card, The Notebook DVD (easy way to a girl's heart) and a Tim McGraw CD. Yes, this was a patchwork gift to be sure.

I arrived at my abode that evening prepared to douse her with my lavish gifts. She proceeded to open them excitedly. A look of disappointment immediately spread across her face as she realized the gifts I had provided her. The Notebook was a movie we had seen in theaters. Therefore, I was giving her a gift that she had already seen. She also happened to own the Tim McGraw CD I had purchased her. This was disastrous, but she still played cool and pretended to be happy to see me.

The night went on, and we were hanging out. Suddenly she reached in my pocket for some reason. No, this was not in fact that kind of reach into the pocket. I could not possibly be that lucky. Instead, she pulled out the receipt from my purchase earlier in the evening. Cleverly, I had not thrown out the receipt or hidden it. She instantly noticed that the date of the purchase was marked for that very day, and the time of the purchase was shortly before I had left work. I was in fact nabbed red-handed. Needless to say, the night did not end well and this would be an incident that I would be able to learn from for the future. Only I did not...