"You can't handle the truth!"

I always stress out over gifts for Dave.

I can't lie, the man buys good gifts for my birthday and Christmas. An almost-one-of-a-kind sweater (it's not from the mall) from Stella & Finn, or chocolates from Oaks. A book he noticed I thumbed through, hesitated to buy, then put back on the shelf. A "Carrie Bradshaw-like" purse from a "vintage" store downtown. A cool ornament from another store in Oshkosh.

The man does well.

And then there's me.

Everything he wants is expensive (hello, newlyweds can't afford a large format camera, sorry, Dave), and I expressly set out to avoid getting him an iTunes gift certificate this time, as cool of a gift as that is. And with a guy, it's hard to say "Oh, wow, he'd love that purse." Because he only has one purse -- I mean, murse -- and that's all he needs, thankyouverymuch.

We have varying tastes in clothes guys should wear. He likes books, but if he doesn't get into it right away, it sits next to the bed for a few months until I sigh, dust the cover off and put it back on the bookshelf. He likes music, yes, but you can't buy the man with hundreds of CDs anything like that because, duh, what do I know about music? I am a Dixie Chicks fan, he'd say. Oh, the nerve.

Which leads us back to iTunes gift cards.

No, no, no.

I set out to get him something tonight at Target of all places, and I came away with three really unoriginal things; variations of which I've gotten him in holidays/birthdays past. But, dangit. I really, really did put thought into it this time. I swear. (His birthday is Saturday. I can't reveal what they are, because he monitors my blog like a hawk.)

Disappointed. As if I expect that someday I'll have to tell my grandchildren that I got my husband a useless present for his first married birthday.

But one of the things I like about Dave is his unfailing ability to make me feel like I just bought him exactly what he wanted. He's such a gentleman. Which is good, because I can't handle the truth.