{"id":664,"date":"2014-02-12T04:51:27","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T04:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=664"},"modified":"2021-03-14T07:23:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T07:23:50","slug":"warning-valentines-day-is-on-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2014\/02\/12\/warning-valentines-day-is-on-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning: Valentine’s Day is on the Way!"},"content":{"rendered":"

With St. Valentine’s Day\u00a0rapidly\u00a0approaching, I find myself confident that I won’t be\u00a0forgotten.\u00a0Being a hopeless romantic and having spent years of Valentine\u2019s days alone, I\u00a0know firsthand what it\u00a0is\u00a0like to not have\u00a0any\u00a0expectations for the holiday.\u00a0But\u00a0for\u00a0a dozen years,\u00a0I\u2019ve been married to a man who\u00a0wouldn’t think of forgetting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still for\u00a0over a decade as\u00a0a\u00a0single\u00a0mom,\u00a0I knew that no bouquet of flowers or balloons, or even a\u00a0card bearing my name would arrive.\u00a0Back then, I worked as a\u00a0reporter at\u00a0WTLW TV 44.\u00a0With a videographer’s\u00a0assistance,\u00a0I went out into\u00a0the community and did\u00a0a\u00a0“Man on the street” investigating\u00a0what Valentine’s Day\u00a0meant to other people.<\/span><\/p>\n

One 90-year-old gentleman I polled proudly told me that he would definitely have a surprise in store for his wife. When I asked him if he had ever forgotten the day dedicated to lovers, a grim look crossed his countenance. With the camera rolling, he\u00a0replied hesitantly, \u201cI don\u2019t think I better talk about that.\u201d <\/span>So he had forgotten once.\u00a0 I could tell it had been such a painful experience that it had never happened again. After all,\u00a0a woman scorned\u00a0can be\u00a0a formidable foe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, other\u00a0folks freely told me about the cards, chocolates, roses, and teddy bears that they\u00a0were\u00a0planning to present\u00a0to\u00a0their beloved.\u00a0Although one\u00a0honest young man\u00a0revealed that he couldn’t remember the last time he had received a Valentine’s Day card. The fact that he look like a ski model from the cover of GQ soothed my own wounded\u00a0ego back then.<\/span><\/p>\n

My quest for more information about Valentine’s Day led me to investigate its history.\u00a0There are conflicting stories about the day\u2019s\u00a0origin. The one that I like\u00a0the\u00a0best deals with St. Valentine\u00a0as a third century priest. At the time,\u00a0Emperor Claudius II decreed that marriage be outlawed, deciding that single men made the best soldiers. The\u00a0History Channel\u00a0website reports that, “Valentine\u00a0realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.\u00a0 When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The demise of Valentine was as melodramatic\u00a0as any opera one could attend. Coincidently, a decade ago\u00a0on Valentine\u2019s Day,\u00a0I surprised\u00a0my\u00a0spouse\u00a0with\u00a0opera tickets. This was a real sacrifice, because opera is his love, not mine. Still, I\u00a0thought that I would never outdo the\u00a0display of\u00a0undying\u00a0affection that I assumed\u00a0my hubby must have planned, since we were still almost newlyweds.<\/span><\/p>\n

When\u00a0that fated\u00a0Valentine\u2019s\u00a0Day dawned, I awoke with the expectation of a kid on Christmas morning. Despite the fact, there was no breakfast in bed, or\u00a0even a rose\u00a0anywhere in sight, I excitedly guessed it was only a matter of time\u00a0before\u00a0I would be presented with some\u00a0token of\u00a0his\u00a0enduring love.\u00a0That Saturday passed\u00a0quickly\u00a0in chores,\u00a0errands, and general weekend routine.\u00a0By late afternoon,\u00a0I began to get\u00a0suspicious\u00a0that the love of my life might have forgotten. However, being married less than two years I rationalized away that ridiculous fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally in the car\u00a0on the way to the opera, Larry confessed that he had\u00a0overlooked the arrival of\u00a0Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0Being a bachelor all his life, he\u00a0tried to find a good excuse for his lapse, but none of them were working. Needless to say, it was a rather subdued\u00a0evening\u00a0after\u00a0that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet\u00a0when we returned home,\u00a0there was a small bag hanging on our front door. Inside was a beautiful Valentine’s\u00a0Day card with a silver bracelet bearing one heart charm.\u00a0There was also a note from my husband’s\u00a0best buddy\u00a0explaining that Larry\u00a0must have accidentally left these items at his house\u00a0on an earlier visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sounds too good to be true?\u00a0It was. Something about the card just didn’t seem right. So being a former investigative reporter, I simply asked, “Did you buy me these things?” <\/span><\/p>\n

Larry’s honest character caused him to immediately blurt out, \u201cI\u00a0called my\u00a0friend\u00a0right before we left for the opera, and told him I needed help.\u201d\u00a0All I could do was laugh, because I knew that\u00a0in the future my hubby would understand even \u201cold married\u201d couples\u00a0should\u00a0celebrate\u00a0the gift of love. I guess\u00a0people like me are born hopelessly romantic, while others become romantic desperate\u00a0for survival.\u00a0No matter what kind of romantic you are,\u00a0Happy Valentine\u2019s Day!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With St. Valentine’s Day\u00a0rapidly\u00a0approaching, I find myself confident that I won’t be\u00a0forgotten.\u00a0Being a hopeless romantic and having spent years of Valentine\u2019s days alone, I\u00a0know firsthand what it\u00a0is\u00a0like to not have\u00a0any\u00a0expectations for the holiday.\u00a0But\u00a0for\u00a0a dozen years,\u00a0I\u2019ve been married to a man … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[364,366,371,365,372,368,68,100,367,370,369,373,232,374],"class_list":["post-664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practical-advice-on-the-road-less-traveled","tag-candy","tag-chocolate","tag-couples","tag-flowers","tag-happy-valentines-day","tag-hearts","tag-love","tag-marriage","tag-relationships","tag-romantic","tag-roses","tag-television","tag-valentines-day","tag-wtlw-tv-44"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1685,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions\/1685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}