Before I begin, I’d like to say it was my computer’s fault, not mine…In fact, when you really think about it, it was Stefano’s own fault. So there!

When he last updated my computer, you see, he must have erased my nifty calendar somehow…yep, the entire thing. All my appointments—gone. All those helpful and reliable (!) birthday reminders for all the important people in my life—gone. As quickly as you can say “keystroke.” Poof. And of course, I didn’t find out until yesterday morning…

You’d think I’d have known that something was wrong when my computer neglected to remind me of my sister’s birthday last month. But no, I didn’t. I’ve been so busy and distracted by other things that I guess I just didn’t pay any attention…

Okay. Fast forward to yesterday morning.

As we were getting ready for work, Stefano asked innocently, “Don’t you have anything to say to me?” I mulled this over for a moment and replied, beaming a smile at him, “Well yes, of course. Good morning!!!”

Hurt look. Downturned mouth. He moaned, “You forgot…you forgot…”

“Forgot WHAT???,” I retorted, putting on a sock. (Quick note: since I’ve been on curcumin, my memory has improved a whole lot…So I was 100% certain I’d forgotten nothing and that he was pulling my leg just to annoy me…).

He answered, “YOU FORGOT MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!”

After a stunned nanosecond of silence, I protested, “NOOOO, silly, it isn’t your birthday today, of course it isn’t!!!!!!!!!! That’s impossible!!!! My computer didn’t warn me!!!”

I’ve NEVER EVER forgotten his bday before…

But he was right.

I had!!!

Panic, total panic…holy caaaaaats!!!

And that’s when it hit me. I looked down at my computer screen and told him I thought there was something wrong with my calendar, since it hadn’t “warned” me first about my sister’s birthday and now about his birthday, as it usually does. That’s how we discovered that my calendar had been completely erased…Oh well. Not my fault, then. 🙂

After work, I drove directly to our favourite pasticceria (=cake shop), one of the best in Florence, and managed to slip inside just as it was closing…After apologizing for my foot-in-the-door intrusion, I explained that I’d forgotten my husband’s birthday, at which point the tired pasticceria owners turned into the most understanding and helpful people on Earth. “Signora, try this…hmmm, what do you think about getting him one of these? Ah, and how about this chocolate one?”

I ended up buying all his favourite sweets. Every single one. And a GLORIOUS cake consisting of a tart crust base topped with a lemon-based Bavarian cream custard surrounded with raspberries and strawberries and passion fruit (nice touch, eh, the passion fruit 😉 )…Oh, and let me tell you, it was absolutely delicious…

But that didn’t seem like enough. I mean, can a few sweets possibly make up for forgetting the birthday of the most important person in your life?

So in the late afternoon, braving the pouring rain (incidentally, it’s been raining buckets upon buckets here since Sunday…to the point where my flowers are floating and I’m thinking of trading my car in for a boat…), I went out again and bought him some books and some expensive Scottish whisky—two of his favourite things in the world (that is, after the cats and me and his computer…ah yes in that order…).

Oh, I forgot to tell you. To make matters worse, yesterday morning Stefano told me that for MY birthday he’s planning to whisk me away for a romantic weekend in a European capital…

Well, Stefano’s birthday turned out well in the end and life is good. And the best part is that I married a great guy with a great sense of humor…Hmmm, speaking of that great sense of humor…I really hope he wasn’t kidding about the romantic getaway! 😉