Lunch, gifts, and e-mails

My guy's birthday was last Thursday. It wasn't the birthday that I had planned to spend with him, in light of his recurring bout with depression.

I didn't think it was suitable to hint giving him a birthday spanking or for me to receive his birthday spanking. He has no interest in physical, fun activity these days. I touch his thigh, caress his head, hug him, and hold his hand. He likes all that still. However, he doesn't initiate such contact, which is a part of having depression. You have a loss for interests that you once had.

I insisted that we go out for lunch on Wednesday and Thursday. I feel that it's important to have him out doing something and to engage in a decent conversation over food with someone, which just happened to be me.

I have a pretty good memory when it comes to dates. He is never surprised when I remember his birthday. I don't have it written down anywhere. He doesn't post his birthdate on Facebook or other social media sites. I simply remember the date.

We walked into the restaurant together, with my bringing his gifts in a blue bag. We sat down at a table. He had to visit the men's room. Of course, one of the servers knows us so well at the restaurant. We are regulars. She asked whether I was getting another gift from him. She remembered that he got me castanets the previous day. I told her that today was his turn to receive gifts. She figured out that it was his birthday.

My guy returned to the table. I presented him with his goodies, which was his Valentine's Day and birthday gifts. My guy has been travelling often that I never got around to giving the former gift to him until last week.

I gave him truffles and a travel router for Valentine's Day. This router is amazing, for it acts like a hotspot when you are in a European hotel, for example, and only get an Internet connection for a single device. You can connect a number of devices to your router and you're one happy, connected person. I used mine in Frankfurt recently, which worked wonders. It also doubles as a battery, so you can charge your cell phone or tablet with it.

For his birthday, I got him a Clarisonic Mia 2. I have owned a Mia for a few years now and love it! My guy first saw me using it when we were in St. Louis together. He didn't freak out when he saw cleanser all over my face while using the brush. I looked like a ghost with a round face. He said that I looked cute. He has been intrigued by this device for a while. I decided to get him it.

He immediately perked up at the gifts. He actually took the cleansing brush out of the box to take a look at all the components. He was so happy.

I can tell that his mood is improving a bit. He wrote to me on Friday, saying thanks for the gifts. He said that he loves them on the phone when I spoke to him on Sunday. He wrote to me today to say that he brought it on his business trip to Brussels and loves it.

It's amazing what communication and thoughtfulness can do for a depressed person. He is not out of the woods, but he is making decent progress. The fact that he wants to write me e-mails is encouraging.

On the phone yesterday, I started to tease him. He sounded like his normal self by threatening to make me stop teasing him for being cell phone-challenged. It was nice. It's a great sign.