Valentine's Day

Ah, Valentine's Day. The day we all come to our significant others toward the end of the day (to allow time to go get the present you forgot) with stuffed burgundy bears and candy, and maybe a real present or two.

It's good stuff.

I don't even care that it's just a manufactured holiday created to make you go out and spend money at the approximated time that you would be bouncing back from Christmas' purge of cash. It's still cool.

Why? Because I love presents.

Call me shallow, I don't mind, but I do really like presents. Especially unexpected presents. I love it when my wife surprises me with something and it doesn't have to be big. If she sees a Wonka Bar somewhere (they're delicious) and picks one up for me, I'm pretty happy. It just means that she was thinking of me and cared enough to pick me up something.

It is certainly not the Michael Scott "I love you X dollars amount" mentality. It's just a sure-fire way to let someone know that you were indeed on their mind.

A preacher once told me to read a book called the Five Languages of Love and I was going to, I really was. I still might. But then he said I also needed to read Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti.

I'm not reading that. The title says everything that's in the book. If it ISN'T about how compartmentalized the male mind is and how mixed up the woman's mind it - about how men can leave work at work and leave situations right where they are while women let all experiences interweave and work together into a great big mess, then I am wrong.

Please correct me and I'll read the book.

Anyway, as much as I love Valentine's Day (or any present-giving holiday) I do NOT like waiting for the day to arrive. When I was a kid I was forced to wait until Christmas to open presents. The first year I was in the AF my wife and I opened up our presents on the 12th. Not because we didn't want to celebrate Jesus' birthday (I was still a religious person at the time) but because I didn't want it to be all about the presents and besides, have you ever gone to a party where the host gave all the gifts to the attendees? That's just rude.

So I gave Kim her Valentine's Day presents this weekend (the weekend of the 7th). She received Photoshop, two instructional books, one beginner and one advanced so she can work up to being an expert, some candy and a card about how no matter what life throws at us, I'll always enjoy the ride so long as she's right there by my side.

I still have to wait for Valentine's Day for my presents though.

I hope everyone has a good Valentine's Day.