Valentine's Day 364 days a year

Well, today we're all supposed to get out there and prove our love by supporting Hallmark and buying overpriced roses and doing over the top things like sky-writing a marriage proposal over a major American city. (Surrender Dorothy.)

Candy is nice.


Godiva is very impressive.
















Some guys think fancy lingerie is a good idea to give a woman...






...but everyone knows it's really a present meant for him.





I'm tired of the whole idea, myself. I'm tired of wondering if Sue and I are supposed to do something. We both have the same instincts, so why did we both wonder if we should do something? And if we decide we're not going to do anything, why don't people really believe us when we say we don't need a special day to prove we love each other? Oh yeah, right, is the attitude we get. Sure. Wink, wink.

Are her co-workers wondering if there's trouble in paradise because a dozen roses didn't show up at the front desk? So many woman play that one-up game. My ring's bigger than yours. My house is bigger than hers. I have a fur coat. They're things, darlin's. They're not love.

Or what do people say because I didn't buy Valentines in time and lick a stamp to send to my daughters? Bad father. No account, anyway. Knew it all along. What do you expect?

I'll tell you, Valentine's Day is like New Year's Eve, which I've always hated, too. You're supposed to be so happy and jovial, and it seems all I've ever seen is people talking too loud and drinking too much.

And I haven't always been in love on Valentine's Day, and it's just as hard to be sweet and kind as it is to be happy and jovial. When you're not.

I'll tell you when I've been in love. I've been in love first thing in the morning and out of the fog I realize Sue's lying next to me. And it's real.

Or we split up in the grocery story and then I round an aisle and see her there and my heart gives a little jump and she turns and smiles at me and I know she's mine.

I'm in love when I'm in the kitchen and I can hear her blow drying her hair.

I'm in love when I realize that somebody like Sue actually did fall in love with me, and there were days when I was feeling pretty far down that knowing that made all the difference. (Well, at least Sue loves me, I'd think.) Because Lord knows I'm no prize. And I know there aren't enough things in the world I can do or buy to equal that. And it's just like free-falling.

I know I've got it good, because Lord knows I've seen bad. Real bad. You have no idea. (Or maybe you do.) So, Valentine's Day, for me, is every day. And I hope I show it to Sue. I know I don't always do. I'm only human. I'm only a man, a simple one at that.