Some men spent their day yesterday making dinner reservations and buying flowers. Joey spent most of his Valentine's day trying to get a tractor out of a ditch. A tractor that was rear-ended by a semi-truck hauling hogs to market. The tractor belongs to Joey's boss and was being driven down the road by one of Joey's co-workers. After the accident, they spent the rest of the day trying to get it out of the ditch. Luckily no one was injured.
After work, Joey ran up to the little grocery store and called me to ask how many boxes of pasta he needed to make a lasagna. Turns out he wanted to make me dinner for my Valentine's day gift. Unfortunately, his cooking repertoire is limited to macaroni and cheese and frozen pizza. And his grocery shopping skills are even more limited. And he had no idea what we already had in the pantry at home. (Even if our fridge and pantry are full of ingredients for meals, if we don't have a few boxes of macaroni in the cupboard or a pizza in the freezer, Joey thinks "we don't have anything to eat.") So he bought two boxes of lasagna noodles and $9.00 worth of macaroni salad. And a package of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups because I asked for chocolates.
And when we got home from work, Joey learned how to make lasagna. Somewhere in between sloshing marinara sauce and flinging shredded mozzarella, he said, "I like cooking, because you get to make a mess."
Half an hour later, we sat down to a home-cooked Valentine's dinner of lasagna and potato salad. Made with love by my valentine, with a little instruction... And even though I didn't technically get to put my feet up and relax while my sweetheart slaved away in the kitchen, I did get satisfaction out of our role-reversal and hoped that the experience would give Joey a better appreciation of the hours I spend buying groceries and cooking dinner.
Yeah right. I still had to do the dishes.
At least I got to pick the movie. And I'll probably be eating most of the candy bars that I gave to Joey, myself.
And even though I didn't get a dozen roses or a heart-shaped box of chocolates, I'd much rather have a clueless farmboy valentine than one who works long hours in an office and has a secretary to send me flowers. At least my valentine can say 'lasagna' in a phony Italian accent...and always make me laugh.
After work, Joey ran up to the little grocery store and called me to ask how many boxes of pasta he needed to make a lasagna. Turns out he wanted to make me dinner for my Valentine's day gift. Unfortunately, his cooking repertoire is limited to macaroni and cheese and frozen pizza. And his grocery shopping skills are even more limited. And he had no idea what we already had in the pantry at home. (Even if our fridge and pantry are full of ingredients for meals, if we don't have a few boxes of macaroni in the cupboard or a pizza in the freezer, Joey thinks "we don't have anything to eat.") So he bought two boxes of lasagna noodles and $9.00 worth of macaroni salad. And a package of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups because I asked for chocolates.
And when we got home from work, Joey learned how to make lasagna. Somewhere in between sloshing marinara sauce and flinging shredded mozzarella, he said, "I like cooking, because you get to make a mess."
Half an hour later, we sat down to a home-cooked Valentine's dinner of lasagna and potato salad. Made with love by my valentine, with a little instruction... And even though I didn't technically get to put my feet up and relax while my sweetheart slaved away in the kitchen, I did get satisfaction out of our role-reversal and hoped that the experience would give Joey a better appreciation of the hours I spend buying groceries and cooking dinner.
Yeah right. I still had to do the dishes.
At least I got to pick the movie. And I'll probably be eating most of the candy bars that I gave to Joey, myself.
And even though I didn't get a dozen roses or a heart-shaped box of chocolates, I'd much rather have a clueless farmboy valentine than one who works long hours in an office and has a secretary to send me flowers. At least my valentine can say 'lasagna' in a phony Italian accent...and always make me laugh.
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