Valentine...Smalentine!

That's what I use to think about Valentine's Day. I always had high expectations for that day (and don't all women?), and those expectations were never met. You might be asking, what did I expect? Not much, really. Nice romantic dinner that I DID NOT HAVE TO COOK OR CLEAN UP; a plan that I did not have to plan; and a sitter that I did not have to get. I was never into the "gift" aspect of Valentine's Day. I honestly feel that you should love and treat your significant other special every day. However, flowers are always nice. And they MUST be sent to the office, if your valentine works outside of the home. I remember one year when I worked outside of the house, Cactus sent me RED roses to my office. Well, my favorite roses are WHITE roses. I called to thank him for the RED roses and he got upset that they were suppose to be WHITE. He called the florist and they delivered the white roses. I set each dozen on my desk; one on each corner. I told everyone that the red ones were from my husband the the white ones were from my boyfriend, because HE knows what I like!

Sorry...I digress! Valentine's Day has become VERY commercial. The card, candy and floral industries have invented this holiday. I know this for a fact, because since 1999, I have owned a candy store and have had to be there at 4:30 a.m. on Valentines to dip strawberries in chocolate. I felt like the Dunkin' Donuts guy..."Time to dip the strawberries!" After a full day of dipping, I never wanted to go out to dinner and fight the crowds. Half the time, Cactus was out of town.

This year was different! I asked Cactus a couple of weeks before what he wanted to do for Valentine's Day. He is ALWAYS very considerate about this. He said he would do whatever I wanted to do. I told him that I wanted to go to the ranch, cook dinner and spend the night...WITHOUT KIDS! He jumped at this. I had planned to cook something new and different; however, I had been out of town and did not have time to prepare. We did a very simple light menu. I arrived at the ranch and Cactus had a fire in the fireplace, the wine was chilled and no t.v...he had on Michael Buble! So far...so good!

I once read that couples should cook together. Now, we do this on a regular basis, but this night it was different. We weren't rushed to get dinner cooked, eaten, cleaned up and kids to bed. Our evening was VERY slow paced and not tense. LOVED IT! We cooked together, ate together (I usually sit down to the table as the first one is finishing up and taking their plate to the sink), and cleaned up together.

I will not go into the details of the rest of the night (LOL!). BUT...I no longer will call Valentine's Smalentine's. After 20 years together, I finally think that we got it right!

I guess the lesson here is that it's not about the celebration of the day, but the celebration of the people and the relationship.

Keep Gabbin', Gigglin', Grinnin' & Lovin'!
Erin