An "Outtasight" Valentine's Day

I used to dislike V-day because "hate" is a strong word. When I was single, fellow singles called it "Single Awareness Day" and I didn't dislike that at all. I downright hated it. My reasons for hating it weren't necessarily because I didn't have a consistent person with whom to share it (though one can't help but be barraged with how unattached you are on that one day), but for other, more petty reasons. Come to think of it, I wasn't getting petted often enough either.

My birthday is four days prior to 2/14, so growing up, decorations were always pink and hearty. I hated pink (and hearts) for a long time because of that, though now pink and I are like Farrah Fawcett and feathered hair. I'm still not the biggest fan of hearts, either. Unless they're edible, consistently pumping blood through my body, or drawn on a Sacrament Meeting program by my husband.

The other main reason I wasn't a big fan of the day was because of the commercialism that commonly surrounds it. A bunch of roses on any other day suddenly balloons up to three or even four times a normal price just because there are such high expectations for spouses to "prove" their love through monetary means. The adverse effect of such heightened expectations for bepetaled ovaries all over one's desk is that if someone is without a partner, extreme measures are taken to save face. A local radio station proved my point a few days leading up to V-day when they read a report on the air that people have been known to order flowers for themselves on Valentine's Day for the sole purpose of flaunting self-worth. There's no need for people to have such concentrated negative feelings once a year! Instead, they should be allowed to wallow and drown in self-pity for days and weeks on end.

But now the tables have turned. I got me a man. A goooooooood man. We had a Valentine's Day to celebrate last year, but frankly, it wasn't all that great. Ted was sick, we were in the middle of planning a love celebration (our wedding), and we didn't realize restaurants (the good ones, at least) fill up their reservations for that one day a month in advance. We ended up going to Big Mama's Rib Shack & Southern Cookin' here in town, where we waited an hour and a half for our food (Ted's nose dripping the whole time) only to get a lot of greasy fare that would have failed my mother-in-law's presentation standards. I still say those hush puppies were TDF, though. I miss the south! In addition to the sad night out, we weren't married yet, so...I wasn't allowed to give Ted any fuzzy G-strings. But THIS year......

Are you kidding? Ted would never have posed. I had to get someone else.

We were actually excited for The Day o' Love this year. We mutually decided to have dinner at home, and I must say, I'm a big fan (at least before the kids come). When I got home that night, I found Ted already home, arranging flowers bought at Trader Joe's instead of an overpriced florist, and folding origami lilies and lips. Yes, lips. They even move, like they're making out. I love 'em. There was a box of See's candy, hand-picked so I get nothing but my favorites, and I had done the same thing for him. It's been the best, because nothing goes mysteriously missing. He went back to lab while I made dinner, and then we had a major eating fest.

The menu: Shrimp cocktails

Porterhouse steak with homemade onion rings, baked potatoes, and roasted asparagus and tomatoes.

Dessert: mint fudge hearts (it's okay - they were edible), and cream puffs with chocolate ganache and fresh blueberries. mmmmm....

Our home was getting a wee bit cold at that point, so we retired to our snuggle-rific bed. I wish I could say we stargazed through our bedroom skylight, but we don't have one. Besides, the Hubble Space Telescope found exactly what I was looking for anyway. Mi amore, here's to you.







(For those nerdy enough to care, this photo is of the Rosette Nebula, only 5000 light years away, featured for Feb 14 on NASA'S Astronomy Picture of the Day website)