Valentine's Debacle

Time to delve back into my history a bit, before marriage came into the picture, while we were still alight with the glow of a new relationship...

Valentine’s 2009
I had just commuted back from a conference an hour away, was not in a terribly good mood. I had my period, awful cramps and it was Valentine’s Day. What a lovely combination, right?  The one shining light I had though, was that my boyfriend and I would be able to see each other that night. My husband and I started dating right after Thanksgiving five years ago.

I don't remember having particularly high expectations for the holiday, perhaps since my boyfriend (now husband) had, at one time, told me that he didn't really 'do' the Hallmark holidays, and would rather give me gifts when the mood struck him, not when he felt forced.  That didn't mean that he didn't spoil me, especially when we first got together. Two weeks after we started dating, he took me for a romantic dinner, and to see the play Avenue Q. I was spoiled, I will admit.  However, I wasn't expecting to get nothing but this card, which he had printed off at work:

Oh that's right. I got nothing, but incestuous home printed Star Wars card.  Are you freaking kidding me? No candy, no flowers...nothing.  And still, you ask, I married the guy?  

When a relationship starts, there is a period where the other person can 'do no wrong.'  Luckily, this card was received well in the do no wrong parameters, because instead of trying to kill him, I sort of laughed it off...and then held it over his head since then.

I prefer the passive guilt trip really. The next year, when he got home, there were flowers, candy and dinner ready for him. I'm not sure what he got me, but since then, I have spoiled the crap out of him with candy and treats on Valentine's Day, and never really let him live down...the card. I think I've trained him well, with my expectations for a semi-Hallmark holiday.  Two years ago he actually sewed me a heart shaped pillow out of tie-dyed fleece (omg so cute, and I need to find it), and the year before that, when he was unemployed, he made me a website with a candy heart that says something sweet to me every week for three years.  See, I could sense that there was some sense under the drunken glee of bachelorhood 

2013
This year, I was cursed with a stomach virus for the last week that killed any romantic plans for the evening we may have had.  My shining accomplishment for the week was running (ha...more like stumbling) to the grocery store to buy Gatorade, bananas and applesauce.   Luckily, I had bought the hubby two bottles of wine and some super hero glasses from Michael's before I got sick, so I had presents prepared. I also saw a link to these Portal valentine's that I printed off and surprised him with.

Note the bottle of wine shaped like a cat, and the threatening Valentine's Day cards.

In return, he took a trip to Costco last night after work, and...he surprised me with a vacuum.

A vacuum?  Well, it's a Dyson, and I've wanted it for years, and never been able to wrap my head around paying more for a vacuum than some people pay for a car.   Once again my husband needs to be banned from Costco, for our own financial well-being, as he also bought new sheets, daisies and a box of chocolate.  It was sweet, and has been wonderful in taking care of me, so on our way to bed last night, I told him that he had made up for the...card. But, before I let it go, I had to tell the world.

So last night, I ate a churro, moaned on the couch with regret for attempting to eat said churro, read a book and watched him play (and maybe bossed him around a little while he played) Katamari Damacy, while he drank an entire bottle of wine.  I love the purple daisies he bought me, accidentally thinking that they were the gerbera daisies I wanted.  I love that he puts so much thought into getting things for me, and then totally confuses it with what I really wanted, just because he took the time to try.  So thank you lover, for being my valentine.  You're my super hero, but if you ever get me another cheesy incestuous  card, I will use physical violence. *smiles*