Its funny how men and women see things differently when it comes to romance.
When I was seventeen, my boyfriend (now my husband) gave me a box of chocolates. I was so happy and we ate two apiece. The next weekend when he came for a date, he asked about the Valentine candy and I told him it was all gone. After all, I had my parents and three brothers to share with and I didn't think I was supposed to not eat it unless he was there. My boyfriend made a joke about buying a smaller box the next year and I was just thrilled that he suggested there would be another year!
I did appreciate the candy. And I was left with an empty box that I thought I would treasure forever. I turned the box over, wrote "1973" on it and put it in top of my closet.
Its not about the candy, its about the box!
The next year we were married and it was wonderful! Everyday we were on our honeymoon in our little mobile home. We had lean times but big dreams for the future. Again, my sweetie (now my husband) gave me a box of chocolates. The box was just as big as the first one but we ate it all together, two pieces a day. It lasted and lasted. When the box was empty, I turned it over and wrote "1974" on the back. I put it on the top of the closet with the "1973" box and all my wedding pictures.
"Love is knowing you will spend every day, of every week, of every month,
of every season, of every year for the rest of your life with this
person, and thinking,
'This is exactly what I want."
The years went by. We moved across country to new jobs and bought a little green painted house with a big attic. I continued to save the Valentine Day chocolate boxes and mark the years on the back. I packed them in brown paper bags and organized them far in the back of the attic. The years turned to ten, fifteen, and then twenty.
Then one day my sweetie (my dear husband) was looking for something in the attic and saw all the bags in the back of boxes. He started looking in the bags and found all the empty chocolate boxes with dates written on them.
Later that day when I came home from shopping, dear husband said he wanted to talk to me about something. He pulled down the attic stairs and we went up and sat on the attic floor by the bags. He gave me one of those "What in the world is this?" looks and pointed to the bags. I explained how I loved him so much that I couldn't bear to throw away the boxes.
Then he gently explained to me that he loved me, too, and empty boxes didn't have anything to do with how he felt about me. Then he became very serious and lectured me on how the boxes and bags were a "fire hazard", especially stored in the attic above the kitchen. He asked me to clean out all the unnecessary paper and cardboard and clutter up in the attic as soon as possible. And I did. I carried every bag of empty Valentine's Day chocolate boxes to two metal trash cans at the curb. And it felt good!
Love is just one of those things!
My dear husband still buys Valentine's Day chocolates but he added real rose bushes to plant in the yard for a few years.
One year he bought chocolates and a lawn chair! LOL!
It is all good!
Hope you have a great Valentine's Day!
And if you don't, always remember that it's all 50% off on Feb. 15th anyway!
Lottie
