Happy Val-in-times Day

Valentine’s Day is always a fun holiday for us. I usually write a ‘Love Letter’ that we send to our friends and loved ones, detailing our exploits and setbacks from the past year. We figure that everyone sends theirs on Christmas, so why compete? Most years, our Valentine’s weekend includes some sort of trip to a mountain town involving a stay at a bed and breakfast. It used to be the St. Elmo Hotel in Ouray until they promptly priced themselves out of our range. This year I registered for a trail race in Moab and combined the event with a couple night’s stay at a local B&B. I played it coy for a few weeks until the subject of lodging came up and I had to spill the beans. Aspen still has no idea where we’re going (but will find out in the morning). Grandma and Grandpa will be taking care of unGuy for a couple days.

I stopped at the store on the way home from work today to pick up some Valentine’s Day ‘stocking stuffers’. Big mistake. Joining me were a bunch of men picking up last-minute gifts for their wives. I’m sure this is quite amusing to the female cashiers and customers. The epitome was this guy who took approximately 12 seconds to pick out a card for his wife, prompting a woman standing next to me to declare, ‘Ha, ha, that’s about how long my husband would take, too.’ I spent a considerable amount of time looking for the perfect card, and then some chocolates to be arranged in an interesting manner, which Aspen will discover in the morning. I was a bit uncomfortable standing in the checkout line with all these goobs and their feeble last-minute attempts to show their mates how much they love them. I got those same smirky looks from the ladies and wanted to shout, ‘This is just extra stuff! I planned ahead! Really!’ But the icing on the cake was the 12-second-card-choosin’ guy at the front of the line with his card, a two-pound bag of cocktail wieners and the new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Nice job, dude.