“I honestly have no idea why ‘I heart u -n2’ is written on that business card,” I told my wife after she found it on my nightstand. I could feel my face turning red as I repeated my cluelessness to Sera while she questioned why a woman’s business card expressing feelings of love ended up not only in my possession, but in our bedroom next to where we sleep each night.

I’ve never been someone who loves pranks, but my initial thought was this must be a setup. My quick glance around the room revealed no hidden cameras, and Sera insisted she simply found the card and didn’t add anything to it. As much as I hoped “What Would You Do” was filming in my home or that Ashton Kutcher had revived “Punk’d” with a new focus on unfamous Minnesotans, I had to accept that this situation looked bad and was not a joke.

The truth is, I still have no clue why that message was written on the business card. I received it following a legitimate business meeting and simply took it out of my pocket at the end of the day so it wouldn’t get messed up in the wash. The card sat there a few days before my wife found it. My best guess is the woman I received it from originally wrote the note on the card for someone else and handed it to me by mistake. Or maybe someone actually intended for her to find it and instead of discovering the note, she passed it on to me. Either way, it certainly put me in an awkward spot.

Thankfully Sera accepted my explanation as fact and moved on. My bewilderment with the situation still lingers. I have half a mind to investigate further, but the other half says to leave well enough alone. I’m not saying I’d approach the situation any differently had I found the same note on a guy’s business card on her bedside table, but I think it’d be a little harder for me to let it go so quickly.

I think my wife’s reaction was calmer than expected because we had just come from a friend’s wedding where we were reminded once again of the joys of love and newlywed bliss. Seeing those great friends brought back memories of the day we exchanged our vows and began our happily ever after, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. Sera and I even had the opportunity to slow dance to a version of our first dance song, and it was as if the whole world paused for us to relive that moment.

When potentially difficult situations arise in marriages, I wish everyone had the luxury of reliving their wedding day and all the joy that hopefully came with it. A wedding day marks only the beginning of a lifetime together, but sometimes couples need a reminder of their vows, faithfulness, commitment, and trust that comes with their exchange of rings. We of course can’t always attend a wedding for the memories of your own to come rushing back, so our reminder hangs on the fridge. Well before we were married she knew my memory wasn’t one of my best qualities, so she grabbed the small, magnetic white board from the fridge and wrote out our vows for me to study every day when I went for a snack. Three houses and a year and a half later, and those vows are still there for us to read.

In addition to the reminder of our wedding vows, we received many great pieces of advice on our wedding day. Perhaps the best was to always remember you’re on the same team. Sera’s quick investigation into the mysterious businesses card followed that advice well. I’m sure I’ll never know the answer as to how that message ended up in my possession, but I did learn to appreciate how much faith and trust my wife has in me. And if any loyal readers of the Albert Lea Tribune intend on giving me their business card when we meet, I ask that you write a nice greeting to Mrs. Sera Knutson on it so we can prevent this situation from ever happening again.

 

Rochester resident Matt Knutson is the communications and events director for United Way of Olmsted County.