Valentine's Day

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True love comes quietly,
without banners or flashing lights.
If you hear bells, get your ears checked. 

~ Erich Segal

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HELLO-O-O-O-O!!!  Once again, I have failed you.  You can see in that little bar on the right hand side of this blog, I've had pretty much no activity for some time now.  It's wrong...just wrong I tell you!  But, what can I say, life got in the way.  So, since it is Valentine's Day, I thought I'd hop on the Internets and spread some love. 

Roses.  Cliche, I know.  Many men would call this holiday worthless.  It's simply a reason to open their wallets and spend exorbitant amounts of money on something you could grow in your backyard.  Yet, I find my husband, year after year, not planting a thing in our yard except a lawn chair and a cold beer.  Last I checked, that did not a rose make. 

I used to be really into Valentine's Day.  I guess in some ways, I'm a hopeless romantic.  Now, I don't lie when I say that I would saw off my arm with a butter knife not to be a romantic.  It presents a false sense of reality.  For years, I waited anxiously for a sudden delivery of flowers, a big present to be presented, a dinner that involved something cooked in a heart shape that never came.  I gave up on that long ago.  Don't misunderstand me (and start sending me hate mail) for this is not a bash on dad of the year.  It is simply...reality.  Not everyone rides off into the sunset on the back of a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey.  No girl gets John Cusack to stand outside her window with a boom box above head belting out a most appropriately timed tune.  And last I checked, there's no hot guy waiting outside the church after my sister's wedding beside his cute little red sports car.  Ok, have I dated myself? 

Love is about sharing that feeling every day - not just one day of the year.  I've come to treasure the every day unexpected moments.  The hugs when you didn't anticipate them.  The hand holding when you're merely sitting in the car.  The dishwasher being loaded without being asked.  The garbage taken out before it overflows.  No THAT is love! 

However, today took me quite by surprise and bummed dad of the year all at the same time.  And when I look back on it now, I find it funny all of that came when really nothing happened.  Let me explain. 

I made a quick trip to a jeweler today to buy a watch I'd had dad of the year try on the weekend prior.  I knew he would be too frugal to purchase, leaving me the opportunity to come back for a Valentine's purchase.  As I paid for the watch, the clerk asked if this was an every day gift, or Valentine's.  I stated it was a Valentine's present.  Hmmm, he replied.  Huh?  Well, he followed up, we just don't get many women in here on this day.  My response?  This year, I've decided to shake things up.  I imagined that as I strutted out of the store with my perfect gift in hand that the clerk was shouting behind me, you go girl!  (he clearly wasn't)

I could hardly wait to get home to give him the watch.  When I told a co-worker about it, she asked if I would be disappointed if he didn't get me anything for the day.  Honestly, I was more concerned he would see the purchase I had made before I could even give it to him (thanks to his handy-dandy iPad app that shows him the low down on our purchases - it feels a bit big brotherish to me).  I honestly had no expectation of anything in return. 

So, imagine my surprise when I received a text message late this afternoon asking if I'd received any "special deliveries" today?  No, I hadn't.  Immediately, my heart sank.  Dad of the year had gone and done what I assumed was the impossible.  He was romantic.  Yep, he'd ordered flowers.  As 4:30 approached, 4:45 and then 5 pm, I finally sent a text that I would need to leave and nothing had been delivered.  I was truly sorry.  For he had tried more than I ever expected.  I could feel the disappointment through my iPhone. 

This post is not about the flowers that were not received.  No, he did not order them from 1-800-flowers, however if you'd like a good laugh, go their Facebook page and check out the lengthy list of people they pissed off today by not making many of the "guaranteed" deliveries.  It's about the fact that after all these years, he can still surprise me.  Just when I think I've figured him out, I get it all wrong.  After 15 years of marriage and many years of dating previous to that, this was the first year he sent me flowers on this day.  Ahem...I mean tried to.  And it didn't quite go as he expected.  I do fear this will be the last.  Most importantly, on this day, I knew how much he loves me without the word ever even being spoken and in spite of no flowers, I felt special. 

So today, I do a middle finger wave to all the florists who got this day wrong.  Frankly, you suck more than I can tell you in a Facebook post or on Twitter.  And shame on you 1-800-flowers.  Your canned responses on Facebook break all that is holy about social media.  You got this so wrong.  So very, very wrong!  Yet, this will not break my spirit, nor my tendency to be a hopeless romantic.  I won big when I got dad of the year.  And no flowers in the world can compete against that.

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