With one of the biggest gift-giving holidays of the year only days away, fear and loathing fills the hearts of men who anticipate with dread, Valentine’s Day.
“Too much pressure,” lamented a male co-worker.
According to the National Retail Federation, candy will comprise more than half of Valentine gifts, flowers will go to over one third of recipients, while just under a fifth will receive jewelry, all traditionally romantic and sweet.
Finding something special for that special someone need not require a trip to traditional shopping venues, alternatives do exist, as I discovered unexpectedly just a couple of months ago when I attended my first gun show.
I didn’t take any money with me as I never anticipated coming across anything I’d care to purchase. Was I wrong! The RK Gun Show at the Atlanta Exposition Center in Forest Park was packed with practical and whimsical goodies.
“Survive-A-Storm” shelters, zombie apocalypse apparel, personal protection devices, bullet resistant eyewear and backpacks, and emergency survival food. With all the volatile weather and events lately, most would make thoughtful gifts.
I’ve been nobody’s sweetheart for a long time, but over the years I’ve had a variety of experiences, the déjà vu Valentine gift with one suitor giving me the same floral arrangement and lovely ceramic ginger jar vase two years in a row, a gift so nice he gave it twice.
The vexing Valentine, as when I was given a box of chocolates after oral surgery only to have the giver enjoy eating them himself. If it’s the thought that counts, I think we can agree that his thoughts were crystal clear.
There’s also the vacant Valentine, conscientious objectors, significant others who resent forced romanticism, citing brash commercialism and claiming to show they care throughout the year. Maybe I’d grudgingly be given a card. The same one three years running, as I recall.
But nothing beats hot poetry as the most romantic I’ve ever been given. It was not a Valentine, I received it on a Leap Year Day and I carried it with me every day for months. The paper became so soft and tattered that I had to retire it to a safe place at home.
A big bottle of Chanel No. 5 was a close second and again, not a Valentine gift, rather it showed up magically in my mailbox, just because, making an ordinary day extraordinary.
While we’re on the topic of heart-warming gifts, our elected officials are often taken to task for giving away our tax dollars, but sometimes giving away is good. That was the case when Roswell city officials donated a surplus Roswell Fire Department fire engine to Island Park, New York, a community broken by Superstorm Sandy; their volunteer fire department was completely demolished.
The best gift on any occasion genuinely comes from the heart, and that’s all any of us should want.
