Valentine's Day

A couple people asked me what Nick and I were doing for Valentines Day. I swear my answer was as follows-"Well, after work, instead of heading to the bar, I am going home." It helps that all the romance in my body is located in my pinky toe, but my reality is, I just don't care. It isn't that I don't love Nick. Nobody else makes me so mad, and it is my strongest desire to turn Nick into a lizard so I can rip his ass off and he would grow another one, no worse for the wear. But nobody makes me laugh harder or longer either. I still remember sitting in a Wendy's burger place laughing so hard tears were running down my cheeks and I couldn't speak. I think the table next to us thought Nick was being mean because they threw him some dirty, dirty looks but I couldn't talk to tell them otherwise. I just find Nick that hilarious.
I guess the reality is, I am high maintenance. I am not into the one day hoopla's where you get chocolates and flowers on Valentine's Day and your anniversary. To me, a relationship is a partnership and it is everyday-every single, freakin' day. Because, really, if you give me flowers last Thursday, than you think you don't have to do anything for me on Friday and I hate that attitude. What if I am sick on Friday-were all your goodwill points used up with the flowers I might have gotten on Thursday. What about next week if I get a headache? Can my partner than say-no, no I got you flowers last week so I don't have to do anything this week. I want Nick, and myself, to always remember that relationships don't start and end with the holidays created by card stores.
Besides, it is the little things that make a relationship. All the times I pick Nick up from work so he doesn't have to take the bus after working 12 hours shows I care. He also has a thing about a dirty kitchen so I work hard to keep it picked up (although warning to guests-don't eat off the floor!) On the flip side, when Nick was out with his cousin one day, he saw a book I wanted on sale. Not only did he remember the title, but he brought it home just because he knew I wanted it-just because. He also did the dishes a couple of weeks ago becasue I looked really tired and he often carries my laundry basket downstairs because he knows it bothers my neck to carry heavy things. I would hate for him to do that only once a year.
Anybody in a long term relationship can tell you that a lot of times, it is the little things that makes us smile or drive us nuts. I hear of few people who broke up over drug use and it's morality-it was the affect of the drug use like the inability to hold on to money or the inability to follow a schedule is what seems to get to people, when I read about it in the advice columns. And it is the little things we have to deal with day in and day out. So what did we do Valentine's Day? The same thing we do every day-spend just a little bit of time working on our relationship.