Valentine's Day 2021, The COVID One

Valentine's Day 2021, The COVID One, is in the books. Fortunately, my husband, Dan, and I have avoided COVID thus far. In fact, I am currently recovering from my booster shot. (More on that next time.) I just refer to everything these past eleven months as "The COVID One" because I'm clever like that.

 

Our Valentine's Day didn't look much different from years past. It consisted of dinner, chocolate, and movies.

 

However, I cooked dinner this year since Dan and I are not eating out at restaurants. And we watched our movies from the comfort of our living room couch.

"I was going to offer to cook for us, so you didn't have to," Dan said as I leafed through recipes.

"I don’t want Chicken Voila." 

Dan grinned, "I knew you would say that."

 

When Dan and I were first dating, and I would go to his place for dinner, he would make Chicken Voila, a frozen dinner, with a side of corn. It's become a running joke whenever he offers to cook. (He also makes a mean cheese quesadilla, accompanied by one of us quoting Napoleon Dynamite.)

 

In addition to our typical Valentine's fare, Dan surprised me with our church's Wine to Water virtual event, the proceeds of which went to clean water wells in Ghana.

 

It ended up being a fortunate surprise, considering my roses were delayed due to winter storms. Faithful readers may recall The Valentine That Almost Wasn’t. This was not the first time my flowers did not show up on Valentine's Day.

 

"Your gift can be my gift too," I offered. 

His gift was a box of gourmet chocolate covered cherries, and I was perfectly willing to help him partake.

 

We thought the flower order was canceled, but my roses did end up arriving on Wednesday, three days after Valentine's Day.

 

 

Did I mention we went cross country skiing on Valentine's Day? This has become a bit of a tradition as well. We took a Valentine selfie, but you wouldn't know one way or the other. We always wear same thing when skiing.

 

 

As we drove home from the mountains, I said, "It's Valentine's Day. We should probably talk about something romantic." 

 

We sat in silence for a moment. Then we both laughed.

 

I heard on the news that one way to celebrate Valentine's Day during COVID times was to dress up. In other words, no sweats even if you're staying home. We had just returned from skiing, and I didn't feel like dressing up to the nines.

"Does a band shirt count?" I asked Dan. "And can I at least wear loose jeans since I can't wear sweats?

 

 

"As long as I can wear a band shirt too," Dan said.

 

In case you're curious, Promising Young Woman and A Star is Born were our "romantic" movie choices that weekend. Romantic in quotes because neither one of those would be called feel-good Valentine's comedies. 

 

But, you know, it's the COVID year. Nothing is conventional these days.

 

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