Valentines Day Is When?!!!

      (The short version)

A big day. 1979

The first year we were married, I got off easy because Valentine's Day had already passed before we got hitched.  So, I didn't have to get her nothing. I remember Michele being in a slightly sour mood the day after Valentines which also happened to be the morning we got married. I wasn't quite sure why. The somber mood seemed to linger for many blue moons thereafter.

Ben's Geneva Tire - Luxurious location where Michele was carried across the threshold. (Notice the portable billboard revealing my great marketing savvy.)

The next big holiday was her birthday. We were living in Orem Utah at the time. We lived in an old house that was hooked directly on to a little tire shop I was running. Michele was a city girl and wasn't used to customers banging on our back door at all hours of the 168-hour work week to get a flat tire changed. 


This, coupled with the fact that there was a huge steel plant (Geneva Steel) across the street from our little industrial-zoned house didn't help. The combo prevented her from improving her mood she had acquired earlier that year (I'm thinking it was 'bout the same time as the morning of our wedding). I have no idea where she picked up the bad attitude.

Geneva Steel (A few feet from where I carried Michele across the threshold)

Like I said, her birthday is sometime in the early summer. Let me tell you about the first year we celebrated her birthday. 

On the very day (actually, it was the evening) of her birthday, I happened to notice on her calendar a notation that said something like this...M's b-day, may be the last w/ B.

Well, it took me a little bit but I finally figured out what she was saying. She wanted a present! Why didn't she just tell me? I jumped in the pickup and tore up to K-Mart. After walking the aisle and taking in all the wonderful artwork they had in stock, I bought my dear wife a masterpiece.

This wasn't just any old painting. This was a grand nighttime scene of an Italian shoreline with a beach and boats and moon and, now get this, lights of a city romantically placed in the distance. I fell in love with the picture, especially because it had a frame on it and was on sale.

I knew I'd hit a home run. Living across from dirty, grimy Geneva Steel, tire customers banging on the door, even the fact that her black cat Spook (who she claimed was her only friend) had just gotten run over...all this and more would be forgotten once she got her picture.

Spook, Michele's best friend in 1979 (Deceased that same year)

K-Mart wanted an extra two bucks to wrap it but I figured it would mean more to her if I presented it to her in person with no unnecessary frills attached.

I was wrong.

Valentines Day Is When?!!!       (The long version)

Chelsea, a niece of mine and mentor for my blog questions, told me I should write a piece for my wife for Valentines Day. Here it is:

I was looking at the calendar this morning and noticed it was getting ready to announce Valentine’s Day. This is one of my least favorite holidays because it reminds me that my wife's and my anniversary is coming on fast behind it.


If only I'd known back then what I most definitely know now. You just don't plan your anniversary anytime around Valentine's Day because it causes heaps of trouble every year. Kinda what you might call double trouble.

A little background...

Most guys are slackers (at least that's what I tell my Michele) when it comes to:

1.    The wife's birthday 

2.    Valentine's Day 

3.    Mother's Day 

4.    Christmas. 

Thank goodness these events don't come more than once a year. And I haven't even addressed the anniversary problem yet!

Now whoever figured out the calendar did a great job. (They didn't factor in anniversaries so neither do I.)


Valentine's Day is Feb 14. Mother's Day is crammed in around the middle of August and Christmas is in November or December somewhere. Add in my wife's birthday which is...I'll have to go look that one up. (I think it's sometime in early summer.) And there you have it. A holiday in each of the four seasons that forces me as a husband to step up to the plate every three months.

These are great days to have these particular holidays since they are so spread out! As busy as I am, I generally forget to get the gifts each a year until the last minute (x 4). Since we live 45 minutes away from any type of store, I am usually in trouble.

Add it up! Last minute minus 45 minutes makes a real negative number and also equals a good week’s worth of female ice box treatments sprinkled with a few chilly looks that could kill. If these holidays butted up against each other, I would have more than I could bear.

And so, up until I got married, I was never saddled with worrying about an anniversary. Of course, a week after me and my bride met, I proposed so I really didn't have to worry about any other yearly spousal celebrations up to the point of betrothal either. This kind of stuff was all new to me.

I honestly couldn't handle more than one holiday/drama per season. I must point out here that I usually have other kettles boiling over on the stove and therefore generally have to move my wife's kettle (which include the aforementioned holidays) off the burner until the other kettles get done. Priorities, you know.

Now here is where the kicker comes in. We got married on February 15. Do you have any idea how close that is to Valentine's Day? It's in the same dang month! In fact, it's in the same doggone week! No man in his right mind should have to deal with a situation like this.

Looking forward to the future fireworks with great anticipation!

I should not be held accountable for overlooking a couple of minor things on her calendar that happen to be going on in the same week. I've always felt this way so this must be an eternal principle.

The first year we were married I got by because Valentine's Day had already passed before we got hitched.  So, I didn't have to get her nothing. I remember her being in a slightly sour mood the day after Valentines which also happened to be the morning we got married. I wasn't quite sure why. The mood seemed to linger  for many moons thereafter.

The next big holiday was her birthday. We were living in Orem Utah at the time. We lived in an old house that was hooked directly on to a little tire shop I was running. Michele was a city girl and wasn't used to customers banging on our back door at all hours of the 168-hour work week to get a flat tire changed. This, coupled with the fact that there was a huge steel plant (Geneva Steel) across the street from our little industrial-zoned house didn't help. The combo prevented her from improving her mood she had acquired earlier that year (I'm thinking it was 'bout the same time as the morning of our wedding). I have no idea where she picked up the bad attitude.

Like I said, her birthday is sometime in the early summer. Let me tell you about the first year we celebrated her birthday. 


On the very day (actually it was that evening) of her birthday, I happened to notice on her calendar a notation that said something like this...M's b-day, may be the last w/ B.

Well, it took me a little bit but I finally figured out what she was saying. She wanted a present. Why didn't she just tell me? I jumped in the pickup and tore up to K-Mart. After walking the aisle and taking in all the wonderful artwork they had in stock, I bought my dear wife a masterpiece.

This wasn't just any old painting. This was a grand scene of an Italian shoreline with a beach and boats and moon and, now get this, lights of a city romantically placed in the distance. I fell in love with the picture, especially because it had a frame on it and was on sale.

I knew I'd hit a home run. Living across from dirty, grimy Geneva Steel, tire customers banging on the door, even the fact that her black cat (who she claimed was her only friend) had just gotten run over...all this and more would be forgotten once she got her picture.

K-Mart wanted an extra two bucks to wrap it but I figured it would mean more to her if I presented it to her in person with no unnecessary frills attached.

I was wrong.





Lest the reader get the wrong idea-- Michele and I have been married for 30+ years, have 6 wonderful kids and wouldn't have it any other way. Lots of rocky roads have been traveled but because we hung in there, our life is full and complete. (Michele asked me to include this addition. I said I would if she would consider it her combined Valentine, Mother's Day, birthday and Christmas present for this fiscal year.)

Sometimes the sweetest music comes after the toughest times

I say: Hang in there! You might even end up with kids smarter than yourself.

Like this post? Become a Follower,  then e-mail or Facebook some friends so they can enjoy it too.  Here's the link...http://benzriskybusiness.blogspot.com/