Ok, I do have a beef with Valentine’s Day and as you read, my issue is with the hypocrisy of the event, from the marketing and sales perspective. Instead of shaming Mr Enginerd into buying me flowers, chocolates, jewelry and a nice dinner date, we do our taxes and take time off from work to celebrate the anniversary of our big move to the PNW (Pacific Northwest). After 15 years together, there is no need to one up each other with gifts and attention. The way we do it, every day we make a conscious choice to stay together. If that’s not the most romantic grand gesture one can make, I don’t know what is.
This year it is a bit more special because we have our foster dog Zach with us. He has filled our home with toys and treats, and our hearts with love and devotion. Because he can’t enjoy the world like most dog’s do, we decided to share our Valentine’s Day weekend with him, making sure he felt a part of our family. This required that we slept in late and gave him a third of our king sized bed and that we scour the TJ Maxx racks for a ball that was unique. We found a Chase and Chomp model that had noise making beans inside, to which he growled at first but quickly warmed up to. He’s been playing with it by himself, giving us time and room to change all the CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) in the house to LEDs. After GE said they were stopping production of their CFL line in favor of the LEDs I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to cash in on the Costco/Electric Company discounts on LEDs. The 2700K lighting (K is for Kelvin, or temperature of the color of the light in the spectrum) is very alluring and the 5000Ks work well for the perimeter security lights.
I got ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the beggining of the weekend. On Friday we started the day by going to the IMAX matinee showing of Deadpool, followed by a shopping spree of comic books and dog toys. We finished the night watching DVRd shows and Shark Tank. My husband met with his crew to play dominoes and I went to bed early. Lifeis good when you can get 9 hrs of uninterrupted sleep with Z.
On Saturday we played with Z all morning and afternoon. Then we had back to back massages. Sweet. Around 3pm my husband made lunch amd remembered he had a wine launch party at a nearby winery. We went to two wineries and had a sushi dinner. By 9 pm we were back home lounging on the couch with Z, who apparently loves anything that smells like essential oils and lavander.
When we woke up on Sunday, the actual amd dreaded Valentine’s Day, there was no exchange of gifts or Pandora charms. We woke up around 10 am with Z occupying 3/4ths of my pillow and no rush to get anywhere. My husband took me on a Costco run because he wanted to cook a pigeon peas risotto with ropa vieja (Cuban meat plate) and needed snacks for the week. That’s where I saw the LEDs on sale and decided to buy a few to get our 10 year old house caught up with the times. Nothing says I love you like saving money.
As I type this, my darling nerdy spouse is fighting with the risotto and my puppy dog is munching on a bone his auntie A gave to him. My sister is in Las Vegas for work, and as much as I would love to be there with her, I couldn’t afford the trip. 😦 I’m still recovering for the financial turmoil of the layoff and the recent loss of my original service date. This too shall pass.
True love isn’t about spending $$$ to get laid. It isn’t about posturing on FB and Instagram, letting the world think they should envy you. Valentine’s Day is about sharing the love and celebrating how far we have come together as friends and family. It is about enlisting a group of peeps to play Call of Duty or to spend an evening enjoying each other’s company.
Life is a collection of moments that make every sacrifice seem worth the effort. Spend every day honoring those you love and maybe you can spend a Valentine’s Day weekend like us: drinking Chardonnay Sparkling wine and giving thanks for 15 years together. What more can you get for the woman and man who have everything?
Mrs. Enginerd - Nerd Whisperer 