I had ranted previously about how much I hate Valentine’s Day (see them all here), with its contrived notions of what to do to make the day “special”. Hint: it’s diamonds.
Things are a little different now, since I’m married. But the more important factor is Victoria, age 7 1/2. Valentine’s Day is apparently a big deal for little girls, so neither Karen nor I could be our usual sour selves to ruin it for her. But Mother Nature didn’t help, by interjecting a snowy, slushy, icy mess that canceled school.
I still went to work, since I take public transportation and Karen couldn’t stand having me underfoot all day. There was a payoff when I got home: Victoria loved her presents. I picked up a couple of kids’ joke books, since I had been getting the line “please tell me a joke” when I would tuck her in for the night. I’m not much of a joke teller; more of an observational humorist, though I throw far more stuff out there than is actually funny. (I never figured out the “funny average”, but I imagine it’s quite low.) And I certainly don’t know any age-appropriate jokes. So these books will both entertain Victoria and save my neck. The only drawback is that jokes that amuse a 7 1/2 year old child don’t do much for adults – more puns than anything else. Oh, I also realized that trying to avoid a knock-knock joke by staying quiet, like you’re pretending nobody’s home, doesn’t work either.
For any hopeless romantics reading this, Karen and I do have dinner out scheduled for Saturday.