Much like a honeymoon, you feel obligated to the day, as if by not giving flowers or candy, you hadn't somehow validated your relationship.

Mike and I went to Costco and the mall to run errands at lunch. I've never seen so many panicky men in all my life. There were guys buying the obligatory flowers at Costco and looking rather whipped, all in all. One guy saw a friend who asked what he was doing, and with a very hang dog look, he held his flowers in the air and shrugged. Men at the mall were trying to figure out if the box of chocolates at Godiva was appropriate or that pretty scented heart-shaped candle or that lovely flower and balloon bucket item. Mind you, any other day of the year, you'd never ever find a single one of these men in ANY of these stores, but today, I could hear the air sizzling with the sound of cat o' nine tails zinging some serious ass.

I am not above having a whipped man. I like my men whipped...often in cream, but if Valentine's Day is about the obligation, then it's a lot like mercy sex and I'd rather have my vibrator than that. Yuck.

Mike gave me a little valentine he made. It was pretty cute. He got kisses for it, but I'm definitely feeling like if I put out tonight, I'm pandering to the obligatory, versus the carnal urges of the moment.

Although, he'd take sex regardless of whether it was based on obligation or not.

Oh, and I gave him a Godiva white chocolate bar I bought 3 weeks ago. He gave me one, too....one of the four, I bought 3 weeks ago. And we bought each other Magic the Gathering card booster sets today at the mall.

I know, I know. What kind of weirdos give each other MTG cards for a Valentine's Day gift? It's just how we do Valentine's Day. He proposed to me on Valentine's Day in front of a video game and I thought it was terribly romantic.

It's not like we suddenly need to show each other that we're madly in love with each other. Obligatory shows of affection are much like a kiss from your grandma -- it shows you love the other person, but it doesn't do much to turn you on about them.

We show each other that we love each other nearly daily. Valentine's Day seems to be the one day that it's very difficult to do what we do regularly and normally.