Valentine's Day 2013: the usual elementary school melodrama. Girls come to school in fancy dresses akin to the finery they wear for Fall Picture Day. Every funny little awkward kid believes he will magically have scores of friends for one amazing day. And every year such hopes are cruelly dashed by an imperfect reality. Expectations are in the stratosphere. Yet he still gets out in foursquare. Doesn't get to be line leader. Misses his turn at read aloud because he wasn't paying attention. And the lunch table with the cool kids was full by the time he got there with his tray.
Feelings get hurt. Emotions boil over. Sugar adds volatility. Recess is more of a melee than usual. Hallway lines cannot contain the bursting emotion of the day. Insecure mothers overdo the goody-bags, hoping to ensure their child the popularity they didn't enjoy as a kid. Some even send ostentatious heart balloon bouquets and FTD flowers. It's a mess.
And then on the home front.... boyfriends everywhere choke on the high stakes test. Girlfriends demurely hope for an outlay that perfectly captures their emotional investment. (The only thing worse than failing to get the right attention from someone exciting is getting the wrong attention from someone who is stalking you.) Husbands tread lightly, never sure they will strike the right note. Wives say they don't need any fuss made ... which could either be true or the lie of the year. Stores lose their tenuous hold on any sanity, filling their aisles with red and pink bags of hard brown sugary wax they pass off as chocolate. I don't know if Hallmark really did invent this "holiday" but we have done what we always do in America, we have utterly over-consumed it.
I wrote cards to my loved men, and told my beloved that what I really wanted was simply a card with a heartfelt message from him. (Which was - surprise - the complete truth!)
We went to dinner at Mireille's Bistro - an inspired choice. In a world of mass-produced digitalized schlock, it is original, local, analog - a sensory delight. The food is real, exquisitely prepared, and consistent in quality. A talented accordion player performed live music that imbued the cozy interior with yet more soft delight. I sat next to my husband and we talked while living every moment of the experience.
When one can share such an experience after 19 years of marriage, that is the best Valentine a person can hope to receive. You really do have that one amazing friend on this one amazing day, and even better, more days to come.
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