Friday, February 19, 2010

A Long Lived Romance but Short Lived Valentine's Day Enthusiasm by Lyn McCulloch

The last of this year's tales of Valentine's Day comes from Lyn McCulloch...


My husband and I have been best friends since I was twelve and he was thirteen.

There’s a complicated story of my first marriage and divorce and a whole load of history, before we finally got together as a couple. By then, trying to be romantic would just have seemed silly. He considers romance a load of nonsense and Valentine’s Day only of interest to card-making companies.

Many years ago, we had a very busy year when he moved jobs to join an old colleague who was just setting up a company – literally a three men and a dog set-up which meant he worked very long hours. As we'd also just moved house, life was more than a little fraught.

Given his cynicism, you can imagine my amazement, and delight, when, on Valentine’s Day 1991, I received an enormous and very beautiful bouquet, together with the requisite slightly slushy card. Surprised? No, I was astounded.

He blushed prettily when he came home and was suitably self-deprecating, but it earned him lots of brownie points. Several days later, he admitted that his boss, a family man with a paternalistic attitude to his employees, had ordered flowers for his own wife, and while he was at it, had included those of the two guys who were slaving away building a new company with him. “A happy company needs happy wives,” was his explanation.

For ten years, this charade continued. Oddly enough, when my husband left the company and we moved to start a whole new life as hoteliers, the bouquets stopped – a gesture never to be repeated.

Lyn and Kate's Moonwalk: www.walkthewalkfundraising.org/team_limes

3 comments:

Liz Harris said...

What a lovely boss for your husband to have!

Lyn McCulloch said...

He was! Used to take us out for the most amazing dinners too. Perhaps my dh should have stayed there, just for the perks!

Nicola Slade said...

Marrying an engineer, I didn't really expect romantic gestures - build me a new kitchen, yes. Soppy card? No. But last year he outdid himself.
My birthday is Christmas Eve and I usually programme him, but 2008 I forgot. He proudly presented me with Interflora vouchers 'so you can buy flowers whenever you want'.
I got the full hurt spaniel, tail-stopped-wagging, when I said politely that the whole idea of flowers was to show that he'd thought of me. Spontaneously. So he used the vouchers himself (when reminded) and was like a dog with two tails at the response. (I'd given up on spontaneity!).
Sadly, he's now lost the remaining vouchers but is doing his best. Turned up the other day with a lovely bunch of freesias, but was shocked at the price!
However, he's very kindly put up some new bookshelves for me, so I'll take that as a romantic gesture - and give up on the hearts and flowers!