Put the petal to the metal

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

Valentine's Day is supposed to be a celebration of love, a day for romance and passion. Look into the eyes of most men, however, and you'll see that Valentine's Day is much more than that.

Valentine's Day starts innocently enough for the procrastinating husband/ boyfriend/significant other, a group to which I proudly belong. You wake up, get ready for work, and head to the office. Once at work, after the first cup of coffee, a bouquet of roses shows up for a coworker. "How thoughtful," you think. Then a second bouquet shows up. "Huh, imagine that. Two flower deliveries today," you think.

And then a florist comes through the doors with four more bouquets, a giant plant and enormous heart-shaped helium balloons.

"It can't possibly be every woman's birthday, and what are the odds that every woman I work with is celebrating their anniversary on the same day?" you ask yourself. "Something weird is going on here."

And then it hits you. You've completely forgotten about Valentine's Day.

A mad dash to the florist ensues, and you get the bottom-of-the-barrel roses those goody-two-shoes guys who plan ahead have already picked through. You even splurge on a teddy bear, a balloon and two cards, as if your significant other knows exactly what you are up to, and you are already apologizing.

Delivery? "Yeah, right," the florist tells you. "If you wanted Valentine's Day delivery, you should have thought about that sometime around Thanksgiving."

At this point in the procrastinating game, your only option is to hand-deliver the flowers. The nice thing about it is that you end up looking like the sweetest husband because you care enough to deliver the flowers, the teddy bear, two cards and three balloons yourself.

Valentine's Day is about a mad scramble, a sudden check of the wallet and a guilty conscience. Then, it's about love and romance.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor. He wants to wish his wife a happy birthday today.