Today Is Valentine’s Day

This is it!  Today is the day when we male members of the species attempt to atone for all our unromantic foolishness throughout the rest of the year.  Today is our grand opportunity to demonstrate we are not all self seeking, couch hugging, chip munching, sports obsessing slugs without a solitary romantic cell in our over-fed and under-disciplined bodies.  Yes, Valentine’s Day was created for male cavemen to rebound romantically.

Even in a crummy economy, Americans are expected to spend $18.6 billion on Valentine’s Day this year.  $1.6 billion will be spent on candy, $1.9 billion on flowers but the top prize goes to jewelry which accounts for $4.4 billion.  That doesn’t really surprise me since my wife’s love language is receiving gifts and her dialect is jewelry!  She subscribes to the theory that you can never have too much jewelry!

While sweet chocolates, soft roses and lots of bling always seem to be lady pleasers, there are often bonus points for creativity.  When it is obvious that we have rubbed more than two brain cells together to make February 14 all about her, she will generally respond enthusiastically.

 On more than one occasion I have broken the mold on Valentine’s Day and planned something totally unexpected.  One year I surprised my wife by transforming our living room into an intimate dining experience complete with black cloth and special lighting along with a meal I prepped myself.  Another year, my wife was flying back in on Valentine’s Day from providing care for my mother who was recovering from a serious automobile accident.  Unknown to her, I packed a bag with her most elegant dress and secured a room at an upscale airport hotel for the evening.  I arrived early enough to decorate the room prior to our arrival.

A freak ice storm just about spelled doom for one Valentine’s Day surprise.  I had planned for months to convert our garage into a Hawaiian beach including sand and a palm tree but when it appeared my wife would not be able to go to work and permit me to put everything in place for our winter luau I thought I was as cooked as a kalua pig!  Fortunately, a kind neighbor with a four wheel drive was able to transport her to work and allow me to go to work; albeit in the warmer confines of our Florida Room.  With a little imagination and a lot of decorating we drifted away to Waikiki for a couple of hours despite six inches of ice just outside the room.

Am I some kind of romantic genius?  Far from it!  I was the most pathetic excuse for a romantic when we married.  I was so incredibly pitiful that I proposed at McDonalds!  True story and it wasn’t even a good proposal at McDonalds!

My point, men, is that any of us can learn the heart and art of romance!  These precious ladies God has graciously given to us deserve no less February 14 and 364 other days of the year as well!

 

This post originally appeared as a column in The Daily Press on Valentine's Day 2013.