LOVE-ly Afternoon

A normal Valentine's Day in our marriage consists of Jim being reminded of the day by my cousin Greg or some other acquaintance and a quick stop at a grocery store for a bouquet of flowers. I accept this reality of who my husband is and am thankful that his love for me is clearly shown year-round in many other ways. My brother does special days very differently however, and so Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a lovely double date with Chobie and Laura beginning with lunch at Thr3e Wise Men in Muncie. Following our meal, Chobie suggested that Laura and I might enjoy a manicure. The nail salon that we stopped at had about a 45 minute wait, which prompted some shopping where we were prime examples of the difference in how men and women buy clothing. Laura and I tried our clothing on, did the mini catwalk, and gathered multiple opinions. The guys just held their item up and confidently proclaimed, "Yep. That'll fit."

We returned for our manicures only to find that there was still a wait. We decided to go elsewhere and left with complimentary gift certificates for our troubles. I laughingly suggested to Laura that she might continue to get free nail service if she just "stopped in for a manicure" each time she noticed the parking lot full. We found a less crowded salon and my first manicure came out quite nice.  I was also able to talk Laura into a "wild" neutral color instead of her usual clear.  I topped off my Valentine's afternoon sharing a Starbuck's with three of my most-loved people. Well, not "a" Starbuck's. I don't love them enough to share a drink with them; I definitely had my own.... It was a lovely afternoon.