Sharing the Love*

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What’s mine is yours; what’s yours is mine.

Everybody knows that little phrase, and it’s something I think about often (even though the Hubster sometimes teases me that I have my own spin on it–“what’s yours is mine, AND what’s mine is mine.” haha!).

I like to share. So I share all my love with the Hubster… and apparently all my sickness as well. My poor love is all sniffly and snuffly as the sickness I am just beginning to recover from moved over to his side of the bed. He’s not as bad as I was, and I’m hoping he won’t get the worst of it. On the bright side, I couldn’t possibly have my own spin on that phrase! Look at my sharing! WOO WOO!

Today, dear readers, is Valentine’s Day… aka “S.A.D.”

I love love. It’s true. I know it. You know it. My crossing guard knows it. But I’m not a huge fan of a holiday that has the potential to make singletons feel bad. I’ve always thought of it as less of a celebration of romance and love, and more of a “Single Awareness Day” (S.A.D.). I guess I’ve just never been one of those girls–you know, the kind who are devastated if they don’t get the perfect Valentine who gives the right type and color of flowers, or if the wrong restaurant is chosen, or if (*gasp*) dark chocolate was given instead of milk. (ok… well that last one I can understand.. haha)

That being said, we do remember it in our own way. Last night the Hubster surprised me by arriving home with a bouquet of the most fabulous orange roses with red tips. They are beautiful, and the card with them was even better (the Hubster is a master card writer). I love that he wanted to do something special for me… and I love that he knows me well enough to know that I prefer fun colored roses to traditional pink or red ones. Really, I just love that he’s him. (I think he’s pretty nifty! Hubble hubble ding ding!)

And then today we went for lunch at our favourite Japanese restaurant. We had a cozy little lunch for two and talked all about our upcoming vacation. I can hardly believe that this is our 5th Valentine’s Day together… we are officially oldieweds.

The rest of the day was… well… exhausting. After lunch we went to the store to pick up a few groceries, and ended up missing the bus by less than a minute. Faced with the thought of having to sit at the bus terminal for 40 minutes, the Hubster (like the wonderful gentleman he is) pulled everything heavy from my bags and we began the long walk home. I’m ashamed to say that I was… well… less than cheerful (ok, I was downright awful) about the walk + groceries + icy trails. I’m not good at hiding when I am not impressed about something, and unfortunately it often all gets dumped on my Hubs. I maintain that he is way too good to me (and for me), but somehow he keeps stickin‘ around. :)

We eventually made it home without incident, only to have to turn around and leave 15 minutes later. I had a prescription I needed to fill, as well as a few errands to run, so I thought I’d give the Hubs a break and go it alone. Well, as I was brushing my teeth I walked out to find him putting on his shoes, ready to come with me, even though I was a less-than-cheerful-and-kind-wife earlier. (♥)

We made it to the store and wandered through the aisles picking up things off my list. As I turned down one isle I suddenly realized that the Hubster hadn’t accompanied me. I turned back to see him standing at the end shuffling his feet before waving to me that he’d wait in the next one. Ladies, can you guess which isle I was in?? haha! Gentlemen of the world, if you haven’t figured it out yet, our bodies work a little differently than yours and we need certain things you don’t… like tampons and pads. This is why there are entire isles devoted to the variety of products and brands necessary for that oh-so-lovely time of the month.

Anyway, it was time to restock my cupboard, I went to grab a bag of pads. I’m all about buying in bulk, so I bought one of those big 32-packs that aren’t easily hidden (remember this for later). I’m not ashamed of my womanhood and am not one of those women who hide their products in the bottom of their shopping carts. I figure the secret’s already out.

We made all our purchases and just made the bus. (in our defense, it was early) When we have a few bags I like to sit on the 4-seaters so we can sit together and throw all our bags on the seats facing us. It ended up being a rather… awkward… bus ride. I don’t mean to sound judgemental, but I get upset when I see adults shoving junk food into children’s mouths. Across from where we were sitting two women were sitting with a young girl who was maybe 3 or 4 years old. All three of them were plastered in ketchup chips–faces, hands, and pants (where hands had been rubbed). It was so awkward to watch them shoving handfuls of chips into their mouths, and handing handful after handful to the little girl. We both tried not to stare, but the constant crunch-wipe-crunch-wipe was more than a little distracting…

We were able to divert our eyes eventually when the bus stopped to let someone on. A guy with long blond hair came and sat right in front of us. He put some headphones on and began listening to music. Now then–when you are travelling somewhere in public and a song you loooove comes on, it’s natural that you might want to move to the music. I often tap my foot to the beat, or do some other subtle action, which I’m sure is similar to many other good folks out there. Wellllllll… that was clearly not enough for this fellow. Remember headbanging? I thought that died with the 90’s, but apparently he is a part of a revival movement. This was not just some head bopping, this was full on hair-flying-everywhere-awkward-facial-expression headbanging. Yup. On the bus.

So… we rode along happily (awkwardly) and decided that instead of taking the long way to the station and transferring buses, we’d get off at a stop a few blocks from our home and walk the rest of the way to avoid further awkwardness. However, this wasn’t to be…

Picture this: The bus slows down and pulls up to where we need to get off. There are 4 things to grab as we are leaving the bus–3 bags and a set of new kleenex boxes. As the bus slowed to a stop, we stood up and hurriedly grabbed our things. I picked up the kleenex and one bag, and the Hubster grabbed the other two bags. He was in front of me, and unfortunately missed one of the handles on the bags… and out flew my huge bulk package of pads, flying past the chip-eaters and the headbanger, landing with a soft plop on the floor in the middle of the isle. As the package lay on the floor, every head turned and stared at the massive bundle of pads– waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next. The Hubster stood still for just a second (in utter disbelief that this had actually happened) before swooping down, grabbing them and jumping off the bus. I burst out laughing and ran after him–he had moved onto the sidewalk and was trying to stuff the massive package into a bag with little success. I kindly offered to put the package in my bag to prevent any further mishaps, and he thought that was a marvellous idea. haha!

We eventually made it back home without any further flying pad incidents, and moved on to the laundry. I am usually too exhausted to do laundry after teaching during the week, so it all gets pushed to Saturday. Five loads (and many trips to the laundry room) later pretty well everything we own is clean and smells lovely. And now I am here, writing to you before I go to fall asleep to a movie with my Hubs.

All in all, it was a good Valentine’s Day. Even though it was full of busy errands, we spent it together… which is really what counts.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Hubs… I love you!!!

Shop Girl*