A Little Valentine's Day Reminiscing

Since this year's Valentine's Day was a bust (nobody's fault, it just didn't work out) I will share a fun story from Valentines Past.

I remember it was the Valentine's weekend when my niece was born so this was 3 years ago. Dale a.k.a. Mr. Romance decided to surprise me and told me to pack for a weekend trip but he would not say where. I had a lot of fun guessing where he was driving me on the long road trip. I never once suspected that he was taking me to the most adorable bed and breakfast up in Prescott! He reserved the "upgraded" room complete with iron claw tub, wood floors, fireplace, and all the frilly grandma decor you'd expect a B&B to have. It even had one of those toilets that required you to pull down on a chain with a wooden handle to flush.
He also paid the owner extra to have chocolates, sparkling cider, and flowers waiting for us when we arrived. Needless to say, I was on cloud 9.

That night, we ate dinner at a jazz club. No we don't like jazz, nor do we frequent jazz clubs. But hello! It's Valentines day! It just seemed like the right place to go. Oh, it was so yummy. And yes, I did enjoy me some jazz music. The only thing that would have made it better was if Ron Burgundy showed up with his jazz flute.
The next day, Dale let me choose what we would do for fun. He, being the kindest man, allowed himself to be subjected to one of the most girliest, mundane snoozer activities that a man could ever endure. Antique shopping. I had a great time picking out cute old bird cages and these gorgeous black milk glass containers. I was starting to think we'd better get out of there before Dale lost his mind when he came across something that he fell in love with. Something that he had to get right that moment. I knew it was coming home with us and there was nothing I could do about it. What was this magical item? Here are some pics of the thing he just had to have:
She's a beauty, ain't she? Complete with formidable looking skulls on the handle. I believe it set us back a whopping $20.00. A mere price to pay for such an awesome machismo collectable. The cool thing about it was when I was walking out of the store, an old guy coming in thoroughly checked out my behind. Dale saw this and promptly gave him the "don't stare at my wife or I'll use this new sword I got" look and raised the sword up so the man could clearly see it. I didn't see this happen. But I can imagine that Dale scared him straight.

We ended up having a relaxing day cuddling by the fire and enjoying the break from our kids. It was the best Valentine's day ever.

What sparked this fantastic memory was the fact that I was cleaning out our closet and packing things to get ready for our move when I happened upon the sword way in the back behind all of Dale's clothes. It remains there, waiting to be drawn against any intruder that dares to enter and do battle. It's not the nicest, sharpest sword by any means but Dale once told me that he was confident he could cut a man in half with it if he had to. Lovely.

How funny that one of my most romantic memories is tied to a cheap sword with skulls on it. Such is marriage.