Happy Black and Red Day

I've always viewed Valentine's Day with a mixture of skepticism, speculation, and a hint of envy for the girls parading their tacky bouquets and cheap chocolates in the faces of the less fortunate. I mean, really, who was St. Valentine and does he get any post mordem royalties from Hallmark and Hersheys? And this year I still viewed the pink and red hearts and cherubic cupids (where did those come from anyway) still afforded me great amusement.But this year I've gained a new perspective on the festive day.


A black eye, roses, and chilean sea bass. Oh my. The black eye was mine, courtesy of a frisbee to my left eye the day before V-day. The roses were a Valentine morning surprise from my husband (I woke up V-day and walked into the boys' room to have Keahi launch himself from bed shouting Happy Valentine's Day Mommy! and waving a perfect--only slightly squashed--red rose and a card. He had waited 20 min. for me to drag myself from bed to see him. Then when I followed the card's instructions to look upstairs I found lovely roses arranged in Gypsy Eyes (Iz's pot from his college art show) on the table next to an even better letter. I felt loved and cherished and all those other mushy things Valentines is supposed to engender.) And the delicious sea bass was from Chai's Island Bistro during our 3 hour dinner. The food was pretty good, if expensive, and the blaring music rather entertaining. What added spice and hours to the dinner was the slow service. It made Grenada seem positively fast. We had the privelege of being the last to leave (after 11pm), receive the last wine glass filled with not virgin strawberry daiquiri which was then replaced with a glass tumbler of pure strawberry lushness, and the very last gold dusted truffle lollipop. We laughed at the delays, tipped our slow but funny waiter, and enjoyed the thought that some of these people were looking at us and seeing a guy who beats his wife and takes her out to dinner afterwards.

And it didn't end there. The next night there was another surprise. I was told to dress up and that's it. So in my best black dress and silver shoes I entered the car anticipating....something. And I got out of car to see we were at the Blaisdell Concert Hall to see The Barber of Seville. The orchestra was awesome and the plot whimsical and entertaining. Plus, during the opening song I still got flashes of Bugs Bunny's superb Rabbit of Seville performance. Gosh it was great to have a grownup night. I wish we had some nice pics but I don't think they would have captured it well enough. And so we concluded our Valentine weekend. Now, several days later I can still enjoy my lovely--though severely wilting--roses and, of course, my now yellowing eye.