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February 14, 2000
Valentine dinosaurs, and a scary pageant
I woke up to a Valentine card covered with cartoon dinosaurs this morning. Very cute. I like giggling first thing in the morning. Barry was already at work -- we had a lot of sleet and ice overnight, so he left early.
I've never been overly caught up in Valentine's Day. In high school, I always suffered through that God-awful carnation thing (you know, the fundraiser where the Student Counsel or whoever set up a table so you could order carnations for all your friends.) The popular kids ran around all day dripping flowers, squealing with delight every time another bale of petals was delivered to them. Me? Well... I had a bus driver one year who sent a flower to every girl who rode his bus. I was tempted to send a few to myself, just so I wouldn't look like such a loser.
This is genuinely scary -- a pageant to determine the "perfect couple." Lots of perky, sugar-coated people making goo-goo eyes at each other in order to win a tiara. Very weird. Most disturbing, I think, was the woman who chirped that she loves having ""a husband who loves me no matter what -- even on that bad-hair day." Um, well, I would HOPE that your husband loves you on a "bad hair day!" How about on a bad attitude day? Or a bad financial day? A bad health day? Okay, there's nothing wrong with sugary, gooey, sappy love. But the version of perfection these couples seem to be striving for gave me a toothache. It just doesn't seem real. Nobody is a "perfect couple." Perfect for each other, maybe. Perfect on a particular moment of a particular day, maybe. But the epitome of perfect for every other couple? No way.
Posted by Mary Ellen at February 14, 2000 06:42 PM