You can keep your Flowers

In 2011 Blizzard auctioned off several old server blades on ebay for charity and in November the Ursin server blades were posted. Now being a day one Ursinite, I knew that I had to have one. Well I got lucky and was able to win one and when it arrived, it was glorious. Well my lovely lady was very happy with the purchase and she even offered to write something for me about the whole event and I took her up on the offer. She emailed me the following and now submitted for the approval of the midnight society I now present you, my lovely readers with this:

KEEP YOUR STUPID FLOWERS!!!

 

*Ring

Me: “Hello?”

Jed: “Hunny the Ursin server blades are for sale!”

That was the beginning.  Here we were just over a month into marriage and he wasn’t calling to hear my voice, he wasn’t calling because he missed me or because he thought he would check on my day.  He was calling to tell me a piece of hardware was on EBay.

Me: “Ummmmm, the whosies whatsies are doing what now?”

Jed: “The server blades!  The Ursin server blades!”

Yep, I play wow.  Eight fully grown toons all by my self.  Proud of every one just as I will be proud of my toons in SWTOR when they hit level cap.  But I will be the first to admit that I am not the most technical of persons when it comes to computers.  So right about now I was (I swear to God on this one) picturing something a server used to slide around on the ice easier.

Me: “Got it, the Ursin server blades.”  (he knew I did not get it)

Jed: “Server blades are what a server uses to… *tweet* *tweet* *la-dee-da* *explanation that seemed good at the time but I cannot remember now*..!”

Me: “OOOOOHHHH gottcha.  Well that is cool.  Kind of a bit of history.”

Jed: “Exactly.  Our history.  Its everything.  It’s the guild and more importantly its us.”

Me: “Cool.  Hey babe, I was heading over for lunch with Sarah so can I call you back later?”

…

…

Me: “You are going to bid on the blades aren’t you?”

Jed: “Maybe one”

Me: “one?” (<-still struggling with the notion that the server did not need two blades, to ice skate)

Jed: “yeah I might bid on two just to make sure we get one, but yeah just want one.  I mean, its us.  We should have it.”

Me:  “Sounds great, might even be a good investment.  Let me know if you get it.”

Now it is worth noting at this point in the story that we both work and have no kids which allows us to afford an occasional treat.  So I knew he was not calling to see how I felt about spending his money this way.  My mistake was thinking that he was calling to ask if he should do it.  To be a bit fair here, you really need to understand a bit about Jed and I. 

One of the reasons that I knew I should marry Jed was because we met in WoW.

(I am going to pause here so you can reread that last statement.)

Yep.  I know.  I am supposed to shy away from the fact that I met my husband while gaming.  I mean who does that?  Its dangerous!  Its unnatural!  Its…well probably how more and more people will do it.  You see Jed and I had 18 months to just talk to each other.  Sometimes we would just sit in vent and chat while he would run off on a toon and get a [Heart of the Wild] to give me.  More than any of that, I got to see him in somewhat stressful situations, handing teammates that excelled and those that did not.  I saw him smooth out personality clashes (including the one between myself and the other Sr officer of the guild who turned out to be our best man) and make definitive decisions.  Did you get to see all of this about the person in your life BEFORE they were the person in your life?

Eighteen months into all of this Jed had an opportunity to move to Chicago and I found myself thinking how much I would like to have him around.  Shortly after the move we began dating and the rest is history.

So you see I knew I was getting a gaming guy and I am no Wow-Widow but rather a grateful Gamer Girl.  I appreciate a good boss fight, know when not to stand in crap on the ground and yes, I give good vent!  My gaming heart belongs to pvp.  Just as it did when I stalked Tauren Mill looking to murder little hordlings on my rogue.

But I am also a woman.  I like to cook, crochet and knit, I clip the occasional coupon and every so often I love it when the love of my life gives me a grand gesture of affection, like sending flowers to my office.  Jed, sweet wonderful man that he is, took about a year to figure out this last part.  That was one full year of me dropping casual hints like the time he asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I replied “Flowers delivered to my office.”  I know I know, I should not have been subtle.  Meh, so maybe I did not hit the romantic jackpot, but every guy has flaws right?  So when he called that day I just thought he was asking if I thought he should spend his money on the server blade.

I hung up the phone grabbed some cash and checked to see if my friend was ready for lunch.   She told me she could not go today so I headed out by myself to grab a quick bite.  During the walk I began to think about it.

            Hmm be kinda nice to have a piece of the server…

            Our history…

            It’s the guild but more importantly, it’s us…

            It’s us, we should have it…

Crap.

I did not realize that the server blade was not a piece of hardware.  It was not bits of wire and who-zits and what-zits connected to make a virtual world.  It was us.  What the love of my life was doing was the equivalent of grabbing some sand from the beach where we first kissed or a menu from the restaurant where he first said he loved me.  He wasn’t just romantic, he was being rain in a friggin bottle romantic.

            Wait, wait.  This thing is on EBay.

            So its up for bidding.

            So someone else can get it?

Oh hell no.

There was no way I was going to let someone else buy my bottle of rain.  I grabbed my sandwich and practically ran back to the office.

Ring*

Me: “did you get it?”

Jed: ”Who is this?  How did you get this number?”

Me: “Haha Mr. Funnyman.  Did you get it?  Did you get the blade?”

Jed: “Ok, calm down.  Bid is still going.  I am thinking of going all the way up to $X.”

Me:  “Go to $Y and I will put in the difference”

Jed: “You sure about this?”

Me: “Absolutely”

He starting bidding and I started biting my nails to keep from calling him at work every 5 minutes.  I refreshed the eBay page every chance I could and the price just kept jumping.  Worse I could not tell when we had it and when we didn’t.  Come on that thing has to end up with…that was it.  The bidding closed.

Ring*

Me: “Hello?”

Jed: “Hi.”

Me: “Did we get it?”

Jed: “We got it.”

A few weeks and one doorbell ring later I stood in my kitchen looking at my bottle of rain and thinking about this man.  This man who just wanted a bit of the place where we met and where he met so many good friends and I thought…

You can keep your stupid flowers, I will take him any day.

Here are pictures of the server blade for you all to be super jealous of us.