New speakers

The plan was to go somewhere and buy bluetooth speakers better than Blaine currently has. Quickly, seeking speakers turned into looking for a multi-room sound system, and that led us out of the city on an hour drive to the mecca of home furnishing stores, where the target evolved from multi-room to whole house.

At one point we found ourselves in a soundproof simulated living room sitting in ergonomic leather recliners listening to Van Morrison (our choice) on a surround-sound system, and I had to shake my head at what was happening. "You are the easiest up-sell I've ever seen." He smiled.

He declined the surround-sound but chose an expandable system. To start, he bought four speakers. "Should I get a fifth for the basement," he wondered out loud.

When he looked at me for input, I shrugged. "I've never been to the basement. What do you do down there?"

Turns out it's still unfurnished. Once he purchased the sound system, we wandered over to another building where he took a look at living room sets but wasn't serious about selecting anything.

When we got back to his house, he took me on a full tour. The upstairs I had figured out. There's an office on the front of the house that I've caught glimpses of when the door has been opened. I hadn't seen his bedroom, but more importantly I had never seen his bathroom/closet combo. He has one of those giant, no-need-for-a-door showers, and the closet... There are larger, fancier closets for sure, but I live in a house that nearly predates closets. Mine is narrow and long and dangerous. I have a tiny scar at the corner of my eye where I stabbed myself with a wire coat hanger years ago as I burrowed in to find something near the middle. So being able to stand in the center, hold out my arms and turn in a circle without touching anything was awe inspiring. And depressing. "The least you could do," I told him, "is fill the shelves."

Before following him out, I let my eyes linger on the section where all of his suits hang. There are a lot of them. Promising.

The basement is finished and completely empty except for one room where there's a race-car bed and a kid-sized set of white chest of drawers. "Where is all the stuff?" I asked. "The extra stuff."

He told me when he decided to move out of the house (Allison and Ty live there now) it quickly became clear that he couldn't bring everything, and he didn't want to. He thought it was best to go ahead and start fresh. What Allison, and others, didn't want they sold through a tag sale.

To make me feel more comfortable, he took me into the space where the furnace and water heater are. There are shelves along the walls and all are filled with Rubbermaid storage containers. "Stuff," he said, sweeping his hand around.

I let out an exaggerated sigh. "Oh good."

We weren't able to bring the sound system home because it wasn't in stock. They'll deliver it the week after next and will set it up, which is a relief because I don't do well with that sort of thing. From what I gather, Blaine is worse.

I declined having dinner, although I would have liked to hang out longer. I have laundry to do if I want to leave the house this week.