V-day, whatever

The older I get the less I appreciate romantic gestures.



And I know that makes me sound like scrooge. But I started developing a theory a few years ago that people (read this as men) fall into one of two categories: romantic or reliable. I realize that assigning dichotmous categories is silly and that there are always shades of grey, but I have mainly seen one of these groupings in the men I know.



Case 1: Romantic. My dad is an example of this group. I love my father dearly. But my dad has consistently been the chief in my parents house. Everything is based on when he wants to do things. When I was little he rarely came home from work before Micah and I were in bed. When we got older, no one could eat dinner until he was home. Mom had to pretty much put the meal on hold until he arrived- and that could be anywhere from 6-8:30. He got mad if she let us eat before then and he also forbade after school snacks. Yet he made romantic gestures to my mom often- bringing her flowers, perfume, or a box of chocolates. Buying her special things that she wanted.



Case 2: Reliable. David is the perfect example of this. He understands if we eat before he gets home. He loads the dishwasher (he says I do it wrong) and he does the laundry. He spends time with the girls. He doesn't believe in giving flowers and he isn't big on gifts "just because."



When I was younger I might have (probably did) think romantic is better but I now know that reliable trumps romantic any day, any place, any time. Hands down.



Thanks David.



And the m&ms rocked.



I should add that I have become less romantic over time. For our second v-day as a married couple I created 26 little baggies of oreos, one for each letter of the alphabet, and put a note for whatever letter it was in the baggie too. I hid these all over the house. This year (year 13 as a married pair) I gave him a shark steam vac and the first season of Dexter. A steam cleaner and a bloody tv show. Not so romantic. ne should reliably clean the hardwoods and the other is likely to reliably be entertaining.