Affection: Not Just For Middle Schoolers and Internet Dating
I’m not very good at planning romantic surprises. Shocking, I know-but this year, I decided, hell, it’s my turn to Do Something. Plus I have to Do Something to get my mind off the sad reality that I’m not getting this for Valentine’s Day
So this weekend I’ve got A Very Special Thing planned for my lovely family. Actually 2 VSTs since V-day is, after all, about the people you love. All of them. So tomorrow night, I’m making a special gourmet dinner and an incredible dessert for all of us to share 
and we’re going to watch a romantic comedy, as a family. We are so fucking cute, aren’t we? So then Saturday is my Big Day. Wish me luck, because like I mentioned above- I suck at this.
Once, when I was living with M in Anaheim, I decided to do something extra special for date night. I rode my bike to the store, loaded up my backpack with Brie, fruit, yummy drinks, crusty bread, and other delightful picnic supplies. When M came home from work I sent him to the bedroom to dress up in a suit, while I put on my black sheath of hotness and fluffed my hair. I laid our picnic out on the living room floor (um, it’s Anaheim people. You don’t go outside after dark) and we had a romantic dinner under the 7 foot ceiling.
Then we had a fight, during which I took off on foot through the streets of Anaheim.
My husband knows how to throw a holiday. Once he decorated the whole apartment with hand-cut construction paper conversation hearts, and then banished me to the bedroom to dress while he set up a candlelight dinner on our balcony. Another time, he decorated the house (this house, actually) with draped sheets (to cover the moving boxes) and white Christmas lights, cooked a lovely dinner, and fed me by candlelight. For mother’s day the year I was pregnant with ToddlerA, he planned a surprise fondue party.
This is his year off though-he deserves it. Even though I really, really, really want that phone.