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Letter: No flowers from Kai

Marketplace Staff Feb 16, 2011
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Letter: No flowers from Kai

Marketplace Staff Feb 16, 2011
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TEXT OF LETTER

Kai Ryssdal: It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time go through the inbox. Today though, just one letter about the final note from this past Monday in which I confessed I hadn’t yet gotten my wife anything for Valentine’s Day and that I wasn’t gonna either, just on principle. Some, most of you, congratulated me on my brave stance. Molly Bloom, from Brooklyn, N.Y., had this to say.


By Molly Bloom

Dear, Dear, Dear Mr. Ryssdal (if that is your real name),

I told my boyfriend, Jonathan, that I wanted flowers for Valentine’s Day. When I came home from work there were no flowers. I asked gently, “Where are my flowers?” He said that he had been listening to Marketplace and Kai Ryssdal gave him the idea to surprise me with flowers at other times — just not on Valentine’s Day. He added that since my last name is Bloom I get to bloom every day. I told him to stuff it.

I pointed out that Kai Ryssdal was saying not to listen to the people who tell you to buy flowers, but Jonathan was listening to Kai Ryssdal — so he still let someone else decide his Valentine’s Day instead of listening to me. Jonathan’s bought me flowers only once in seven years, and that was because I asked him to. There’s a hipster Brooklyn bar/flower shop where you can get a beer and a bouquet for $10, so he got to sit and drink a beer before he came home with a pretty little bouquet.

And yes, Mr. Ryssdal, I uttered a few obscenities along with your name, but it was all in good fun. Although I might shake my fist in the air every time you come on — at least for a couple of months.

Anyhoo, we had a good meal, exchanged some loving gazes, shared some Oregon pinot noir and three stinky cheeses, but I didn’t let Jonathan forget that I wanted those flowers. But to his credit, he didn’t back down or run cowering to the corner bodega for some carnations. He stuck to his guns, even though they might have been Kai Ryssdal’s guns first.

Sincerely,

Molly Bloom


Ryssdal: Molly sent us a drawing she made of me; it’s me holding a bouquet of flowers. See the full image in our sidebar. Send us your letters as well.

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