by James Henry

Created on: February 21, 2009   Last Updated: February 23, 2009

There was a time when I thought I was an eternal hopeless romantic, and never would have considered clicking on an icon declaring that Valentine's Day is commercialized.

Seven years of marriage with a wife who could really care less about what day it is, Valentine's Day, our anniversary, either of our birthdays, I'm just not getting all wrapped up in the whole romance angle of this holiday. On the other hand, I have seen ample examples of ways that this holiday, like most of them, has become commercialized.

The Valentine's Day displays go up about 2 minutes after the stores open the day after Christmas. They want to milk this for everything it's worth, and as long as there's going to be a lot of people in the stores returning unwanted Christmas gifts, why not give them a not so subtle reminder of the next time you'll be expected to bring home chocolate, flowers, and anything that is stuffed in the shape of a heart.

I was particularly affected by the commercialized side of Valentine's Day this year, because I learned last fall that I have Type II Diabetes. So if I were going to buy chocolates for my wife, I knew she would be eating them all (and truth be told, she usually has such a stash of chocolate hidden from our children in our bedroom that I doubt any chocolate I bought on February 14 would have much chance of being consumed before Halloween.

Still, the romantic in me was whispering in my ear, saying, "You know you HAVE to do something for her." And I had to acknowledge that advice was sound. So then the question became, would I succumb to the commercial pressures and buy her a heart-shaped box of chocolates, or would I turn on the creative juices?

I chose the latter.

I recently picked up a printer/scanner from a guy on free-cycle (an organization dedicated to keeping as much stuff out of landfills as possible). My daughter, coincidentally, unearthed our album of wedding pictures, and placed it right between our computer and the scanner/printer.

BINGO!

I was delighted to see how well this scanner worked, as you can never be sure what you're getting when you take anything off free-cycle. This printer was out of ink, but that mattered little, because I still had this nifty little program called Power Point, which I have learned to use in recent months.

And so I stayed up late on the night of February 13, scanning picture after picture, as my wife snored away in our bed. By 1:30 a.m., I had scanned every single wedding picture, and imported them into a PowerPoint presentation that I was sure would knock her socks off. I even left the laptop monitor open, so as soon as she sat down at the computer on Valentine's Day, she would be greeted by the fruits of my labor.

And so i waited. And waited. And even asked her if she planned to check her email. When the answer was no, I was lost. Finally, with my eyes bulging out of their sockets like an overly excited pug, I said, "My dear, would you please go to your laptop?"

She obliged, wondering what I had up my sleeve. She sat down and saw the slide show, and watched with the slightest of smiles on her face. When it was all done, do you know what she said?

"Did you get me any chocolate?"

Valentine's Day....Bah, Humbug!

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