Valentine's Day Prep

Love stories always have their "really" moments. [You should read the "really" like the SNL newscaster does on weekend update]. This post explains one of my "really" moments with Mandy. It begins great and ends up, not with "at least my sweetie tried", but "really?". And Mandy is not the only one saying this, but I am as well.

Here is the following true story:

It is our first valentine's day as a married couple. I knew I had to plan something good and so I have been thinking about the evening for a couple of months. Cultivating romance is a life long quest and so I have been taking notes on Mandy's delights. I read a book about how to love one's wife well. The author explains how the husband needs to study their wife, listen to them, and then plan according. The husband studies when the wife has that twinkle in her eye, that excitement in her speech, and that spark in her step. Then, the husband makes notes of what he observers. All of this is great and every wife would love for her husband to passionately pursue her with the things she likes and loves. Husbands, we are called to love your wife and the things she loves. The husband loves to love what the wife loves because he loves her. The typically example of this is, "If the wife like to go antiquing, then the husband like to antique not because he likes to antique (and who really does), but he loves her."

Back to the story...

So, as I have been studying Mandy and her delights, I want to give her something that I knew she would surprise her. I had two things to plan: a date with dinner. Valentine's day fell on a weekday so I decided to stay home. This limited my options but this wasn't a problem. The date part of the evening was simple: a girl, romantic chick-flick. The dinner was the part where the surprise was (suppose) to happen.

Mandy's dad lives up in Cincinnati. The city is known for many thing, but most importantly, Cincinnati chili. Mandy's loves Skyline Cincinnati chili (you can already see where this is headed). I mean Mandy really loves Skyline to the point where when we visit we have to go there at twice if not three times on a couple day visit. For myself, I love it as well. I could go there almost everyday. This is one of Mandy's "twinkle in her eye."

Being the good husband, I noticed this and planned that our dinner would be Cincinnati Chili Cheese dogs [Really?]. I went online and bought the Skyline chili packets (they are expensive) and went to the store and got shredded cheese, hot dogs with buns, and oyster crackers. All of these ingredients are necessary for a Skyline experience. Then, on Valentine's day, I prepared the meal before Mandy got home and awaited her arrival.

I won't bore you with all the details but lets just say chili dogs and Valentine's day do not go together. Actually, I found out that the Skyline Chili packets make Mandy sick to the stomach. I don't even think we made it through the movie. It was a"really" moment of our romance. Hers is one of the lessons husbands should learn:

So, to all the husbands out there, yes, study your wife, but really... think before you act so that you won't have a "really" moment.