Love is in the Temp

     It's just amazing what a bright sunny day can do for a soul. We have temperatures heading to the sixties today and seventies over this week. "I haz a hapie," as the lolcats would say.

     The fact that the wonderful weather aligns with the weekend before a Monday Valentine's Day and didn't for last week's Supergoatrodeobowl tells you just what side Mother Nature came down on. Love wins over football. Unless you love football, but then you have other problems not to be discussed here and now.

     Valentine's Day is mostly associated with a day for women, and with guys proving their love by bringing flowers, candy, and jewelry. Especially jewelry. (Are you paying attention hubby...jewelry.) But the truth is that it was named for dead men. Seems a bit, umm, not loving. But those men were martyrs for Christianity, and a love of God. Later on, Valentine's Day became connected with a priest who performed marriages at a time when young men were required by the Roman Emperor Claudius to remain unmarried. He seemed to think marriage made men into wimps and that the single life was better for warriors. I'm sure there's a really good lesson in there somewhere since things didn't turn out well for the priest, Claudius, or for Rome as a world power, but we still have marriage. From all this death and war, came a celebration of love. Now there is a really powerful lesson.

     First up for me this loving Saturday...laundry. Nothing says love quite as loudly as someone willing to separate and bleach your dirty undies. Then we move on to cleaning up indoor cat hairballs and the backyard dog poop zone. Can't you just feel the excitement building?

     But, you know, even the mundane tasks of middle aged suburban life seem just fine when there is a great sunny day. I'm going to get all the plebian tasks accomplished and then hubby and I are headed out to eat at my favorite restaurant.

     Why today? Why not Monday, the actual saint's day? Well, we've been married almost 27 years. It's not that the thrill is gone for Valentine's Day. It's just that everyday is Valentine's Day when you're with the one you love. We can eat any day, anytime, especially during early bird specials. We don't love each other any less after six than we do from 3-5:59 PM. Cheap meals don't cheapen our love.