Happy Hallmark Day!

A Mid-Morning Interlude:

Scene: The Breakfast table, one morning last week.

Dramatis Personae: Diva and The Husband

Diva: "Just a friendly reminder, I don't give a shit about Valentine's Day."

The Husband: "I know, that's why I love you."

Diva: "I'm not kidding."

The Husband: "Neither am I."

Participants dissolve into laughter.

Fin

I'm not afraid to admit it, I'm a Valentine's Day curmudgeon. Its not that I don't celebrate love, I do. Its just that I prefer to celebrate it on a daily basis. I prefer to celebrate it in the small, quiet, ways that reveal themselves over the course of a relationship, a marriage - not necessarily on February 14th.

Call me a contrarian, you wouldn't be the first, but I've never been a fan of "Hallmark Holidays." I love my mother, but I don't wait for a Sunday in May to tell her that. I tell her every time we hang up the phone. Similarly, I adore my husband - and he knows it. Every day. He knows it because I take time to ensure he has a warm, pleasant home to return to after a long day's work and a hot, hearty meal to nourish him for tomorrow. He knows it because I'm there at the ready to offer a laugh, a hug, whatever is needed whenever its needed. I like to think I do this every day, not just on February 14th.

You'd think being a Diva I'd require some sort of grand reverence on this day: chocolates, flowers, expensive jewels. But here's the thing - I want that stuff on a random Tuesday, just because. I want chocolate every day. Period. And what I want more than that is a husband who'll go out of his way to shop for and cook dinner, braving the wilds of Fairway - although he's temperamentally unsuited to it - all on his own, because he knows I'm a bit under the weather. He did so last weekend and that's the only Valentine I need this year - any year.

Sure, I'd like the flowers on a random Tuesday ... but the cats would just eat them, then puke on my favorite rug - so there you are. My point, and there is one, is that while I don't begrudge others the opportunity to lay on the hearts and flowers today, its just not my deal.

Cupcakes aren't my deal either ... I don't know how to work the cupcake liners and decorating them is a pain in the ass ... but I baked some today. I baked them for the husband ... because he's a good egg, because he makes me laugh every day, and because I know he's going to inhale them with the reckless abandon of cruise-ship traveler at the midnight buffet.

No, there's no recipe attached. Why? Because the cupcakes came from a mix and the frosting from a jar. C'mon, there's a limit to my sentimentality. I've got to keep my card-carrying-curmudgeon status intact.

Happy Valentine's Day, darlings!

xoxoxoxo

Diva

... and you thought I was kidding about the cats ...