Valentine's Day

Let me begin by saying that Valentine's Day is much better when you are married than when you are merely dating. At least it feels that way to me. I think I understand it better. I could never figure out why everyone ran out to pay lots of money for flowers that are going to die next week, and chocolate wrapped in pretty, heart-shaped packages that will be thrown away tomorrow, and all that other cheesy stuff. I never felt there was any true romance in a box of petrified, tooth-chipping hearts with lines like "Kiss me", and "lol" written on them. I always thought, and still do really, that Valentine's Day was created by greeting card companies. But it does serve a good purpose when you can get beyond all the fluff.

In the dating world, I always felt that Valentine's Day was the day that all the girls get out their measuring sticks and compare whose boyfriends are the sweetest. I shouldn't be surprising anyone if I say that most guys couldn't care less about any of that sweet stuff. They just don't want to be in the doghouse. Furthermore, I have always been the first to criticize the over-the-top Valentine's mentality because a good person should always be striving to make their significant other feel special and loved. I know I am always trying to do just that, even though I sometimes fail.

Valentine's can be extremely stressful in the beginning of a relationship. Society puts so much pressure on it that it can easily make or break a couple's chances. A guy can easily get lost among all the cheese. Who can ever know just how much cheese is appropriate to the stage of the relationship he might be in. As easy as it is to do too little and look like a jerk, there is also great danger of going too far and looking like an idiot. It's a precarious balance, a high-wire act between confidence and desperation. Fortunately, once you are married you should know the person you are married to well enough to know what the rules are.

Once you are married you find that all the fluffy stuff doesn't matter any more. And I find that I really don't care what anyone else thinks about my relationship. So go ahead and measure away ladies. This was the first time where I felt truly able to appreciate Valentine's day, and the opportunity it gives to have our very own day. It's easy to get caught up in the current of life and forget to let your wife know just how special she is. I find that to be true even this early in marriage.

I love my wife very much, and never want to take her for granted. I want her to always feel special. So this year I looked at Valentine's as an opportunity to do something extra special, just for her. And that's what I did. And it was a great Valentine's Day. If you want to know all the things I did, I'm sure she will tell you all about it. I never like tooting my own horn too much, and She will probably describe it better than I anyway.

But I must also say Thank You to her for making me feel extra special, and sexy in ways I won't get into here. She also got me some really awesome presents. For instance, she got me this most excellent gela-skin for my Kindle:



I have been needing to make that Kindle (which she also gave me for Christmas) all mine, and some Vintage Dr. Gonzo will do the job nicely. It also goes perfectly with the giant Hard-Cover edition of The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thomson, with full size illustrations by Ralph Steadman. I have been needing this book for a very long time:







Yeah, that's how my wife rolls. She will buy me overpriced books with crude illustrations that she might never understand, but she knows I love them and gives them to me anyway. That's some love there.

Love you, love you, love you, Rachel.