I actually proposed to my wife on Valentine's day six years ago. I think. Five years? Pretty sure it wasn't seven years ago. I'm going with six. My math regarding significant life events is not the best.
Yeah, it's kind of a cliche, I know. But I'd been putting off proposing for so long that when I finally made up my mind to pop the question, and it was already February, it seemed silly to purposefully avoid that day. Plus, I figured I'd be unlikely to forget the date I proposed given that the entire nation and all its commercial resources would be working together to remind me about that blessed day, every single year.
So, thanks, silly Jared's commercials, for inviting our country to celebrate the day I professed love and commitment to my wife with advertisements for useless, mind-bogglingly expensive jewelry, which I will never, ever buy for her.
But since I didn't spend money on a ring (anyone else avoid that rite of passage?), and we had a really inexpensive wedding, I now point out to my wife that every time we pass a shopping center encrusted with Valentine's decorations that the decorations are really ours, a decadent ritual commemoration of the day she said "yes."
"Happy Valentine's Day! All of this is for you."You're welcome, honey.
Read Part Two