Week 75: 2008 Holden VE Ute SS-V

Today I gave my wife the heart-shaped box of Malley's Chocolates (a Cleveland, Ohio favorite) I had picked up last week, as well as a very cool vintage 1930s Valentine's Day card I had previously ordered online.

Wait. I'm not sure you're grasping the significance.

Let me re-emphasize the important parts, and those parts are not Chocolates or card.

No, they are:

Last week and previously ordered 


This is huge, and while unsung and unrecognized, remembering and taking care of Valentine's Day a week, or in the case of the vintage card, weeks in advance, is not something I remember to do in the best of weeks.

The past three weeks have been anything but the best of weeks, too. Since Christmas, my wife has had two separate surgeries, bronchitis, and a cold, and has been stuck in bed more of the time than not, I have been to the emergency room once, as has my youngest son, and for two solid weeks I have been struggling to breath with a rather nasty respiratory condition and a bruised rib from severe coughing, that on top of a run of the more traditional barfiness, fevers, stomach aches and eye and ear infections that visited my kids this January and February. Oh, and I turned 49 last week.

My pre-planning, however, is not amazing because of the illnesses or because of the cold puddle water splash of realizing I only have one year left of my 40s. No, all that aside, for me to be on top of Valentine's Day even if I had been glowing like a toaster coil with good health, is rare.

I'm not proud of it, I'm just saying.

After dropping my son off at pre-school this morning I rushed home, proving I could not possibly have had time to stop anywhere else, and gave my wife the chocolates. I didn't even take off my coat. Sure, it was 9:50 in the morning, but I was making sure there was no doubt that I had not run out on Valentine's Day, even if that meant Valentine's Day chocolates for breakfast.

It was like getting a homework assignment done early. Ahhhhhh.

Strangely, my wife didn't seem to understand the urgency, but I'm sure that's because of her recent surgeries, poor dear. Otherwise, I'm sure she would have been doing a pirouette or maybe even a cartwheel, and I've never seen her do a cartwheel. I guess she just didn't have any spin in her, but I'd like to think she spun a bit inside.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I hadn't planned so far ahead to actually have a Valentine's Day gift for my wife from the kids, although my oldest had helped me pick out the chocolates. That I did today.

Later in the afternoon after picking up Racer A from school, we stopped by a grocery store to look for a Valentine's gift.

"Hey, what about some Pepperidge Farm cookies?" I asked, seeing the giant sale display of cookies by the automatic sliding doors of the store. Sure it was the first thing I saw, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good idea. It's not like I suggested driveway rock salt.

"Umm, those are good, but I like to eat those. I think I want something else."

"Okay," I said. "Let's look around inside."

We went inside the store, and, after visiting the ATM machine, we headed into the shopping section.

"Hey! I got a great idea!" my five-year-old said. "How about some flowers!"

"That's a great idea," I said. "Here are some. What about these?"

My son looked at the flowers, tilted his head thoughtfully, and finally said, "I like flowers, but they just get all brown and droopy and dead. I want to get something else."

"Fair enough," I said. "Let's look around."

My son stopped, and looked at me with a sudden determined yet very inspired look on his face. "I want to get Mamma something she likes but that I don't like so she knows I got it for her."

I was floored. That was one of the most wonderful things I could have ever imagined him saying. His concept also embodied a concept some adult men never grasp who continue to give things like flat screen TVs or table saws to their wives for Valentine's Day.

In the end, he decided to give her some "fancy cheese," and special ginger ale (the kind that comes in the four packs). He smiled up at me, holding the cheese, a small triangle of green-laced sage derby cheese. "I would NEVER eat this, but I bet Mom will love it."

"I know she will," I said. "I absolutely know she will."

And she did.

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You may be asking, then, How does a green Holden tiny car fit into this blog? You may be saying, The Holden is Australian. Do they even celebrate Valentine's Day in Australia? Finally, you may even wonder, Why didn't you pick a red car for Valentine's Day, instead of green, the color of envy?


The answer is, I didn't plan ahead, but I know you'll be more forgiving than my wife would have been had I forgotten Valentine's Day. And whatever. It's a great car, so just go with it.

I'm just glad to be Holden it all together.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYONE!! EVEN YOU FOLKS IN AUSTRALIA!!


Valentine's Day Holden picture courtesy of Phil Pekarcik.