Valentine’s Day: The holiday that men fear and women adore.
Recently, I was speaking with my brother about Valentine’s Day. He recounted that several years ago he suggested to his wife of 40 years that they ignore Valentine’s Day, telling her that the day “was for the young and they were old.”
I will leave to your imagination how these comments went down with his wife. Doug was explaining her reaction, but I was laughing too hard to hear most of what he said.
Why is it that we guys, or at least many of us, dislike Valentine’s Day? And why do so many women find the Feast of Love so special?
Certainly the traditional Valentine’s Day gifts lean female: heart-covered cards, bouquets of flowers, boxes of candy, even those candy hearts with messages like “Be Mine” or “Crazy 4U.” For some guys, Valentine’s Day is like a chick flick, only they’re starring in the movie, all too often playing the part of the bumbling boyfriend or husband who is clueless about romance. Women think of Valentine’s Day as “Sleepless in Seattle”; men view it as more akin to parachuting behind German lines in “The Dirty Dozen.”
During my years of marriage, I was on occasion one of the many guys shambling shame-faced through the grocery store line on February 14, flowers in one hand, card in the other. We’d pay the checkout clerk, head into the parking lot, sit in our cars writing something affectionate on the card, and go home to wives or girlfriends who knew as soon as we walked through the door that we’d stopped at the grocery store.
Anathema.
Men, it doesn’t have to be this way, take it from an old guy. Here are some tips to help you enjoy, or at least endure, Valentine’s Day without feeling like a jamoke:
1. Keep Mum
I don’t mean the species of flower. Unless your significant other also dislikes Valentine’s Day, keep your negative feelings to yourself. Never, for example, say the whole thing was created by Hallmark in collaboration with growers of roses and makers of chocolate.
