"Sandy?" called Kirsten as she walked through the hall adjacent to the bedroom. "Sandy, are you ready? You don't want to be late for graduation…"
Okay. You can do this. It's just a tie. Sandy Cohen examined his appearance in the mirror. He couldn't tell his wife that he'd gotten a friend to tie his tie for undergrad commencement. Kirsten didn't know about this masculine deficiency. Jimmy probably learned from his dad as a little boy…
"Sandy. We have to go." God she was beautiful. The ruffle-y yellow sundress was the prettiest dress in the world because his wife was wearing it.
"Sandy. Why aren't you wearing a tie?" He kissed her as a non-response. Suddenly Kirsten laughed.
"Do you want me to teach you?" She can do it? She's amazing.
"Uh…yeah, baby…what, no teasing about how I'm twenty-five years old, and I should be able to tie my own ties by now?" She laughed.
"Those can wait. We're late." Kirsten's deft fingers quickly tied the blue silk tie she'd bought him the week before. "There you go. Now, let's go."
"You are officially the world's coolest wife."
"Thank you." They kissed, and for a moment Sandy contemplated skipping graduation.
"Let's go." Never mind. Kirsten wouldn't let him.
She was so proud of her husband. He'd set out to be a lawyer, and here he was. He didn't seem to want to tell her much about his life pre-law school; the story tended to go, "My life sucked, and then I met you," but she knew how much of an accomplishment this was to Sandy.
The ceremony itself was long, hot, and boring. After they got through the "C"s, Kirsten started to zone out, her smile surgically attached and her clapping hands on autopilot. She wanted to get home.
"Kirsten." And now it was over, and Sandy was kissing her cheek.
"Congratulations, Sandy. I'm so proud of you." Another kiss. "Your mom's over there, if you want to go talk to her."
"I probably should…but tonight, baby? You're teaching me how to tie a tie myself." Kirsten laughed.
"I promise. It's not that hard, you know." Sandy rolled his eyes.
"Sure, it's not for you, because you already know how to do it." She laughed again and kissed him.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
Kirsten was still in love with the endearments, no matter how nauseated they made her friends. She often wondered how she'd gotten lucky enough to meet someone like Sandy. It never would have happened if she'd followed her father's plan for her. Through the strange course of events her life had taken since she left for college, though, the world had led her to this nice Jewish boy from New York, and she couldn't have been happier. Sandy was off talking animatedly to his mother, and Kirsten smiled. It didn't matter that Mrs. Cohen absolutely detested her daughter-in-law; she and Sandy had a great relationship, and it made Kirsten happy. She'd never trusted a man who was angry with his mother all the time.
What a beautiful life this was turning out to be.
"Okay, baby, the maternal greetings are over. Let's go." His arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground. Kirsten, self-conscious but delighted, giggled.
"All right, the wide end goes on your right side," she patiently explained, draping the tie as she spoke. "Now, it doesn't have to be a lot longer than the thin end, but since you're new at this, you're probably going to want to start with it much longer." She slowly tied the knot, her hands brushing against his neck with every step.
"Sandy, open your eyes. You're not going to learn if your eyes are closed."
"Well, why do I have to learn? It's much more fun having you, my beautiful, sexy, talented wife do it." Kirsten grabbed the knot she'd just made and pulled him to her for a kiss.
"I know. But it's a rite of passage for all Western males. Besides, your new job is going to start much earlier than I care to wake, and you are not going to be one of those guys who have all their ties tied and just loosen and tighten the knots. Okay. Let's start over, and Sandy? Watch this time."