Happy It Stinks To Be Single Day!

At least that's what I've heard it called this week by no less than four women, two men, and one rather sarcastic cartoon character.

Ahhh... Valentine's Day. Another day/holiday/event for women to shamelessly try to out do one another on "what a great man" they've got. Bleck. If you've got to facebook it, instagram it, tweet it, text it, or otherwise... maybe that man ain't so great every other day of the year.

There was a time I was into all that. There was also a time when I was young, immature, and seventeen. Now all I see is stores bathed in pepto-bismal colors four days after Christmas and endless commercials for flowers, cards, teddy bears, and cake. Yes, cake. I saw one local ad the other day informing me that if I really loved that special someone in my life, I would show it with their signature strawberry-layered cake. Of course, that cake will set you back about forty bucks, but hey... that's just three-quarters of a tank of gas anymore, right?

Anyway.

Maybe I'm jealous at the core.

(deep soul searching at the moment)

No. I really don't think I am. I know the husband loves me with or without that five-dollar Hallmark card. He loves me with oil changes and new tires and a little pond with a trickling fountain outside my kitchen window. He loves me by filling a bubbling-massaging thing for my tired feet when I complain that they hurt. He loves me by fixing fluffy omelets filled with cheese and extra pepper because he knows I can never fold one on my own and keep it whole. He knows I love him by the dresser drawer filled with clean, rolled socks and neatly tri-folded underwear.

I aim to please.

I watch my kids encounter their own dilemmas with this heart-shaped, drippingly sweet, lace-trimmed day. One wants to pull off the perfect surprise. One wants to find money hiding in the couch. One wants to sleep through the day. I can relate on all three accounts, Valentine's Day or not. I just hope they can see through all the fluff to know that love and tenderness and putting someone else first should be a priority on any day, not just the day that Wal-Mart tells us it should happen.

How in the world this turned into a ramble about Valentine's Day, I have no idea. That was really not my intent. I suppose I was just thinking on the way home that even if I wanted to get something, I could not. The five dollars in my purse is destined for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread, not Valentine chocolates. Even so, I can do better with a container of Hershey's cocoa powder in my cabinet than anything I could find on a shelf at Walgreens. The family will be treated tomorrow, regardless of my feelings surrounding another over-commercialized day on the calendar.

Any day's a good day for chocolate.