The V is for ... Vah Humbug?

Eh, we're not really doing Valentine's Day this year.

I can't really tell whether I am upset or disappointed or just filled with extreme ennui or what, but Valentine's Day is in three days and neither my husband nor I has made any particular plans, that I know of, to do anything special.

Last year's Valentine's Day flowers

We usually do. I get flowers almost every year, and I absolutely love them. I don't know where he orders his arrangements from, but they're always exquisitely lovely and fragrant and you can smell them all the way down the hall when I pick them up at the front desk -- like I've left a visible vapor trail of rose-and-stargazer-lily essence wherever I've walked.

I get a lot of dirty looks from people who don't get anything, even the people who say they don't want anything. It's usually kind of awesome.

But this year, I'm just not into Valentine's Day.

I'm not anti-romance or anything. We were going to do dinner and a movie tomorrow, leave Shae with one or more of her grandparents so we could get some alone time, but my mother-in-law broke her leg so she is not available to babysit and anyway, there is LITERALLY NOTHING in theaters right now that I want to see. Not for Valentine's Day, anyway. I might like to see True Grit or The King's Speech, but to be totally honest, they don't look like feel-good rom-coms.

And on Monday, the actual Big Day, he has to work, and so do I -- I will get to see him for maybe half an hour before I go to work, and that's all. Not exactly optimal conditions for the making of the romance. I can't even make him dinner. Well, okay, I can, but he'll eat it on Tuesday night at work, and what is the point of putting all that work into a big romantic meal when I'm going to end up fighting with a preschooler over actually EATING IT?

It doesn't help that I have absolutely no idea what to get him, if I get him a gift. The best Valentine's Day present I ever gave him was a mix tape that I made back in 1994. It was absolutely perfect, a blend of old and new songs, covers and originals, standards and show tunes, stuff that expressed all the stuff I was feeling at the time, stuff that I was never able to say in my own words. I've been trying to top that sucker since then, with no luck. I tried again this year, but ... well, let's just say that I'm old and I couldn't really find any songs from the last 17 years that move me the same way that original track list did.

So we're doing nothing, that I know of. Over the weekend I am going to brunch with a girlfriend, but that's pretty much it. We have swimming lessons and family visits and grocery shopping and laundry and all the usual stuff that needs to get done, but nothing special for the holiday. Maybe I'll pick up some cupcakes at the store tonight or something. But basically, I feel like Valentine's Day is just another Monday this year, and ... eh.

If you're doing something special for Valentine's Day, like I don't know going to Denver or something, have a great time! Have enough fun for me too, okay?