Dr. Phil For A Day

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Wednesday - February 22, 2006

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A few days before Valentine’s Day I had the opportunity to share some of my relationship wisdom with a young guy who works in our office. He’s been married for nearly a year, and I had asked him what he was doing for his wife on Valentine’s Day.

He started out by telling me that his wife was going to take him to see the movie King Kong, which was playing at the theaters at Restaurant Row. He said that they always go to the kinds of movies she likes to see, the last one being Brokeback Mountain.

Clearly, he was a newlywed. I guess she was going to indulge him, which sounded pretty romantic. I asked him what he was doing for her. He said he had purchased a little plastic statue of Buddha, saying it would have special meaning to her. I said that was a sweet gesture.

Suddenly, out of nowhere he said, “Oh yeah, I forgot. She also gave me this brand new video iPod!” Another marriage-experienced guy and I looked at him and exclaimed, “And you only got her a little plastic Buddha?”

Sheepishly, he explained that he thought they weren’t going to spend a whole lot of money on each other. I yelled, “Are you crazy? Never assume that on two days of the year - her birthday and Valentine’s Day. You spend everything you earn on those two days because it’s going to save your marriage.” He said he was confident that his wife would appreciate the thought behind the gift.

He had a pretty good point, so I decided I would do something similar for my wife on Valentine’s Day. I guess you should never believe you can’t get wisdom from a young person. On Valentine’s Day, I asked him how it went. He said she loved the plastic Buddha, but that he did something else.

I asked what he meant by something else. He said that he located the designer of their custom-made wedding rings and had them create a unique piece for her on Valentine’s Day. I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my gut as at that point in time, my wife was only going to receive a card.

I can’t wait until 7-Eleven starts to sell jewelry.