a little wrinkle (in my tuxedo shirt) ain't no thang

a couple of weeks ago, my great uncle wally was posthumously honored at a gala recognizing the 100 best coaches, administrators and athletes in north carolina high school athletics. my great aunt isn't in good enough health to travel, so she asked Bill and me to attend in her honor and accept the award. All she had to say was black tie and we were in. we are very fancy after all.

the event was on a saturday night and we had to be there by 6 to get our instructions for the evening. which meant we had to leave by 530 in the afternoon.

i believe some may call this nagging, but for the entire week leading up to the gala, i kept asking bill if he had gone by his dad's house to get his tux, where he had taken it after the last black tie event we had attended together, exactly one year ago from this gala. and for the entire week leading up to the gala, bill kept telling me he would get it "tomorrow night." only every tomorrow night came and went and it was friday night before we knew it. so off he went to get his tux.

only he didn't bring it in from the car. so for the entirety of what was left of the friday night before the gala, i asked him when he planned to bring in his tux. "I will get it later" he said.

my friends, i would like to introduce you to Bill,  the world's greatest procrastinator. you already know me and know that i am in fact not a procrastinator. i am what you would call a planner aheader. i keep 3 different calendars and i study each of them daily. planning ahead makes me feel accomplished. successful. relaxed and purposeful.

procrastination on the other hand makes me feel anxious. it causes me to sweat and to have heartburn. it upsets my blood pressure. and it makes me ugly cry (i say that as if i have a pretty cry).

so here we are suddenly, on saturday - the day of the gala - and i am running errands when i get a txt from my sweet hubby (at 11am no less) that says: "so, my tux needs to go to the dry cleaner." now, because i get things done well in advance of time and am generally in the know, i know that dry cleaners typically close early on saturdays. i know that most dry cleaners don't do same day service if it isn't dropped off to them by 7a. and i also know that we have exactly 6.5 hours before we are to leave the house and my husband has only just now determined his tux needs a fresh dry cleaning.

he promises me he has a solution. he has called multiple dry cleaners and he has found one that will do it in two hours at no additional charge. naturally, i refused to believe him and instead chose to remind him of how i was right and knew this would happen, all because of his refusal to be like me and plan ahead and generally just do things my way.

but i have to hand it to bill on this one. he must have charmed his way into some dry cleaner's heart because he is the only person i know who can get a tux dry cleaned in 2 hours for only $17. Apparently, james bond only ever does 2 hour dry cleaning as well because he doesn't have "time to waste on such trivial matters."

and as bill reminded me in the middle of my panic attack, doing life this way sure makes things a lot more interesting...