Stupid Cupid
Wednesday - February 20, 2008
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Del.icio.usThis year made the 24th Valentine’s Day I would celebrate with my wife. That’s 24 years of stress and anxiety on what to do on February 14 for my beloved. Believe me, I have done it all. From the midnight run for flowers from 7-Eleven to Paloma Picasso jewelry from Tiffany’s.
On our first Valentine’s Day together, I didn’t have any money so I went out and bought a box of the Valentine’s Day cards that elementary kids give out at school. I woke up at 4 a.m. and drove to her office and proceeded to tape up the cards all over the front door and window.
I also included a handwritten sign proclaiming my love for her. As you can imagine, that went over big-time and set the romance baseline for all my Valentine’s Days to come. Trying to outdo yourself every year can get pretty difficult, especially after you have kids.
Then you have to worry about making sure they do Mommy Valentine and stuff like that. This compounds the task of coming up with something original, and I have to admit some years I’ve had to go conventional with roses, candy and mylar balloons.
While that’s still appreciated since it’s the thought that counts, I’ve come to know in my marriage experience that a great Valentine’s gesture or gift is 90 percent effort. The greater the effort you put into it, the more meaning your gift has.
This year I started as early as New Year’s to try and come up with something unique to do for my wife on Valentine’s Day. About two weeks ago, I was going through the ads in MidWeek when I saw one from a craft bead shop called Bead It. They were offering a “guys night out.”
What that meant was they were going to open for one evening before Valentine’s Day when guys could go in and literally design and make their spouses jewelry. As I drove up to the store in Kailua, I was having second thoughts, as it didn’t strike me as very manly to do beading crafts.
Before entering the store, I looked around to make sure no one saw me. It was like sneaking into a strip club or a crack house. The experience turned out to be OK, as I was guided through the whole jewelry making process under the supervision of some pleasant women working at the store.
I think everyone was trying to patronize me as they remarked that the pieces I made were very nice. I had actually seen better-looking strung macaroni necklaces, but I was committed with this gift at such a late date. I braced myself for the worst, but when my wife opened my gift and found out that I made it with my own hands, that brought tears to her eyes. We had a wonderful Valentine’s Day, but now what the heck am I going to do next year - sew her a dress?
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