Day 77: Valentines Day

It's Valentines Day and I'm scurrying through the house lighting candles with a mini-blow torch made for creme bruleeing.  That's how it's done when you're married to a man who cooks for a living.  The blue torch melts horizontal slices in the candles before the wicks have time to catch, but they do catch and we have melty candles setting a mood.

I spent the better part of my Sunday shopping the mall for something special to wear for my own valentine.  I realize that this is a lot of information, but part of marriage is trying to keep your love life fresh, and there's a lot of pressure on Valentines Day.  After trying on various outfits without any luck and a feeling depressed and over-sized, Rich calls me from work.  He says that if I'm going to spend money on Valentines day, why don't I buy the pair of winter boots he's been eyeing at LL Bean.  Says he's a size nine.  A year ago the knowledge that he wants boots more than lingerie would have set me off into fighting mode   Where I'm mad because I think that he thinks that I'm not attractive anymore.  Believe me, we have had that fight a dozen times.  But today, standing outside of Victoria's Secret, I am relieved and laughing.  Because we've made it to the place where we can say what we really want, where we don't have to act like society says we must act on Valentines Day.  So I bought the boots and on the way home I stopped into a Jeweler and picked up a wedding band, size eight.  This will be his third wedding band so I bought the cheapest one they had.

We drank cheap pink champagne and ate a dinner of chocolates and grapes and hunks of Tuscan bread dipped in brie until we couldn't move.

Now the candles are lit and we're snuggled on the couch listening to the latest podcast of the Vinyl Cafe.  I can hear his heart beating against my ear and his breathing has found that sleepytime rhythm.  I want to shake him awake to hear the end of the story, but he looks so peaceful so I keep still and hold onto this exact moment.  I remember it into my mind so that tomorrow, when it's Monday and not Valentines Day, I can still feel as full of love as I do right now.