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Romantic gesture works at any time of the year

Like most folks, I love getting roses on Feb. 14. But I’d much prefer them, oh, on April 23 or Aug. 6 or Oct. 27.
Barbara Gunn
Barbara Gunn

Like most folks, I love getting roses on Feb. 14. But I’d much prefer them, oh, on April 23 or Aug. 6 or Oct. 27.

I’d much rather get the blooms — or the chocolate-covered cherries or my favourite perfume or some pretty new earrings — not because it’s Valentine’s Day or my birthday or my wedding anniversary, but because I’ve had a bad day at the office or because I’ve come down with a cold.

Or heck, because it’s Thursday.

I have nothing against Cupid Day. Man, I love the fact that people the world over are setting out for candle-lit dinners at fancy Italian restaurants tonight. But me? I’d much prefer to order in.

I much prefer it when the partner announces on a weekend, quite out of the blue, that we’re overdue for some Bolognese at the favourite local spot. Just because he wants to.

No idea how Valentine’s Day came to be, but I have to think it’s perhaps because the greeting card companies hadn’t had much business since Christmas and had noticed that Mother’s Day was a long way off. 

Perhaps, too, the lovey-dovey day was promoted by restaurateurs, who might have observed that in the middle of winter, folks were less inclined to book a table and more inclined to stay home by the fire.

Perhaps it was the florists and the chocolatiers, working in tandem when it occurred to them that an occasion called Valentine’s Day might boost customer traffic.

Whatever.

Rarely do I get the partner a card with pictures of hearts and a mushy verse in the middle of February. But sometimes, I’ll pick up his favourite chocolate bar in the middle of June, or a bottle of his favourite red in the middle of August. Not because I’m being told to, but because it would make him happy. And because I’m rather fond of the guy.

Today is Valentine’s Day. And I’m happy for all those love-struck souls who’ll be opening the heart-shaped boxes, arranging the flowers and clinking the crystal champagne flutes.  

As for us? We may get Chinese. We may watch TV.

We may go for a special dinner, and even order champagne. Not sure when that might happen, but it need not be today.