Valentine's (Week) Day

For someone who spends seemingly half of his day at the workplace and half of what’s left of the waking hours glued to his laptop, this is a special time of the year.

With my wife and me in our third decade together, it is incredibly important that we spend some quality time together, and so Valentine’s Day was a good opportunity to get away. We didn’t do too much, just lunch, a movie and some shopping, but we did it together…without the boys. It was a good time and reminded us of why we were drawn together in the first place. If you and yours are not taking extra time every once in a while, you should really think about addressing this.



We started our day at one of the local Mexican Restaurants in town. We then headed up to Fresno, Ca. which is a half an hour away, but has everything, including several Movie Theaters. As much as I wanted to see the film, The King’s Speech once again, we decided to see something new. It isn’t very often that we can get away to the movies so that was the better idea. We ended up seeing The Company Men. It had a good cast: Affleck, Costner, Chris Cooper, Craig T. Nelson and Tommy Lee Jones. It was directed by John Wells who directed episodes of The West Wing and ER. The film tells the story of people getting laid-off of work due to the poor economy, both regular as well as high-end executives, and how they must deal with the devastating changes that it brings to their lives, and the lives of their families.



The film was very good, but reminded me that we are very powerless when it comes to our jobs, and we could lose them at any moment, especially in a poor economy. We headed over to Costco after that, however, since the film had crawled into my head, I found myself unwilling to make any unnecessary purchases. Isn’t that funny?

I didn’t buy anything for my wife this particular time. We’re gearing up for a rather large trip to New York City next month, chaperoning my eldest son’s high school Wind Ensemble group that is playing Carnegie Hall and Central Park, so we both just agreed to spend some time together, rather than money. My wife isn’t a big flower person, and my allergies can’t stand it, so that was out of the question.

In spite of what you may think (considering I’m supposed to be a horror guy), I am a bit of a romantic. I’m the one who wants to watch Notting Hill and Love Actually and who gets misty at all of the right places. After all, when I have been asked what my favorite novel is, it isn’t Barker or King or Koontz I mention, but "Beach Music" by Pat Conroy. I also love to hide things and surprise my wife when the opportunity presents itself. I hope you crave those little moments, too, be it giving or receiving.

Now, how did you happen to spend your day? Is it a big deal at your house or is it subtle? Do you prefer the large outing or the quiet time at home? In any event, I hope it was a good day.

P.S.: I began this post with a photo from our wedding, so I'll end it with something a little more current. It is a shot from a couple of years ago from our stay at Waikiki Beach in Oahu, Hawaii.