What's in a Name?

In so many ways Monday nights are my own, especially since Craig is in class until 9 pm. Sometimes I'll phone date with a friend. Sometimes I'll do much-needed housework (especially if the weekend was busy). Sometimes I'll try a new recipe that is time-consuming. Sometimes I'll go swimming at the McKinney's. Sometimes I'll work late at my office. Sometimes I'll take an extra-long walk. I love the autonomy of my own, personal time!

Yesterday was a cook-and-housework Monday night. The weekend, aside from Art in the Park, physical therapy, and visiting my dear friend Courtney, wasn't very busy. I just wanted to sleep much more than usual - which meant that Monday-night-laundry-and-cooking called my name.

When Craig got home, he offered to help me put the sheets, pillow cases, and mattress covers back on the beds in our house. As we changed the linens, we chatted about how bummed we were that Sara had to leave so soon, thus vacating our guest room. On the flip side, we also talked about how excited we were to have Katie and Maureen in less than two weeks. Halfway through my, "I'm so glad you love my friends," comment, Craig stopped me mid-statement and said, "No, wait, these pillow cases are wrong."

I looked at him in confusion. "No," I said, "these are the guest bedroom pillow cases."

As Craig started to take the pillow case off of the pillow, he was confident: "Sweetheart, I'm sure. The DKNY ones are for our bed. The Vera Wang pillow cases go in the guest room."

I was thoroughly impressed and slightly shocked. I thought I would press him further: "Really? What does DKNY stand for?"

Without missing a beat, he held my gaze and said, "Donna Karan New York."

I was ready to challenge him, so I narrowed my eyes and said, "What about our guest set?"

Craig said, "Vera Wang makes wedding dresses too. And we have her China pattern."

I smiled at my dear, sweet husband, standing in our guest bedroom, with the biggest grin on his face that I'd possibly ever seen from him. In fact, he was grinning so much that it quickly turned into laughter. He was so proud of himself. I couldn't help myself, and I started laughing too - wow, my husband definitely was up on his designers.

After we both finished laughing, Craig said, "Our bed has the DKNY set. The guest bedroom has the Vera Wang set. I'm sure. Help me change the pillow cases."