Carla Gypsygirl's Blurty

Post-Valentine's Day analysis (moral to the story included!)

Okay, so I KNOW that Valentine's Day was two days ago, but it's not like I'm the Daily Telegraph or anything. It's not like I have a deadline to print up cheese-o-matic love ads. You know the type- "Darling RL, I am waiting for you at our secret place. Love Minky." Has anyone ever received one of those? I do confess that in my earlier years, I always scanned the good ol' Tele to see if someone had written an ad for another Carla, just so I could pretend that it was written to me. The funny thing is that I never found an ad written to a Carla. I guess that makes sense- I've never known many other Carlas.

So. How was your Valentine's Day? This Valentine's Day, I have come up with the following conclusion: everyone has issues with Valentine's Day. This Valentine's Day, before my eyes, I was totally convinced that whether you are single, married or in any form of romantic relationship, Valentine's Day will still make you feel weird and huffy.

In my office on V Day, pretty much ALL of the girls were cranky. One of my friends was annoyed about all of the traffic caused by people visiting local florists. Another friend was sad because she was single. And many other girls were just plain bitter that their boyfriends or husbands didn't even remember Valentine's Day. There was lots of ranting along the lines of "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah, all men suuuuuuuuuuuuck!" And then, all the action started to happen. My friend X was delivered a HUGE present from her husband. She received a giant toy monkey holding a heart; a helium, heart-shaped balloon attached to the aforementioned monkey; AND a dozen roses. And yet: it was still not a happy time for dear X! The first words out of X's mouth were: "I'll murder him!" The thing was, that X and her husband had decided not to give gifts to each other, and hence, she had no gift for him. After X got over her initial shock, she was very happy indeedy. And yet, all the other girls in the office felt slightly ripped off. And so, that's when the trouble began. Two girls from my office (Y and Z) went back that night and had HUGE (HUGE!) fights with their partners about how they were slack men for not giving them presents for V Day. Both Y and Z told their partners about dear X, who got SO many nice things from her obedient husband. And the next day, as we heard these stories, there was more female ranting: "Yeah! Tell it like it is! Whip him into shape!" And what should happen after? Y got delivered a giant bunch of fuchsia and orange gerberas from her very sorry fiance. Instead of feeling happy, Y felt terrible for being so mean to her normally sweet and thoughtful fiance. And then, poor Z was even more upset, because there was no delivery for her. And so, I realised this: everyone gets hurt on Valentine's Day.

And, of course, I am sure you are wondering this: what did I, Carla Gypsygirl, do on Valentine's Day? Good question, o loyal reader! Well, you see, I was very noble and good on Valentine's Day. Firstly, a few days before Valentine's Day, I had a big chat with my boyfriend to lay out the ground rules. I said, "Honey, we've just had our one year anniversary, Christmas, and our birthdays. And you just got that nasty fine from those mean train officers the other day. How about we don't give each other presents this Valentine's Day?" My sweet Geoff replied, "That's a good idea. Can we still hang out on the day, though?" But, you see, I had already made plans to hang out with a motley crew of married and single friends that night. So I declined my boyfriend's offer. However, a teensy-weensy, super-girly and selfish part of me was a little bit sad on Valentine's Day. I really did want a little something from Geoff. Even though I KNEW he loved me (he tells me all the time), I still wanted a little card or something, just to know that he was thinking of me.

So, last night, after I was all pumped up from all the female ranting at work, I tried to confront Geoff. We were having dinner together when I tried to gently have words with him. And, just as I expected, he thought that the whole thing was hilarious. He smirked, "Well, I think we had the best option, didn't we? We couldn't fight because I didn't give you anything, because we already talked about it. I couldn't be blamed for forgetting to buy you present. And I saved money! What's not to love?" He held up his hands and grinned. I tried to be very stern and cross, but I could feel my face melting into a smile. How could I be angry at him when he was just so annoyingly cute? He was just SO pleased with himself, and he kept laughing at his own cleverness. Although, as you will recall, it was MY idea. But anyway, how can a girl be mad at a boy for doing what he's told? Also, Geoff's growing a strange beard thing, and he looks so adorable. And he DID buy me an ice-cream after dinner.

And so, the moral of this story is: if you want a present from your partner on Valentine's Day, then just ask for one, damn it! Having a massive, horrible fight is so much worse than being just a tiny bit forward. I think that it is important to tell those we love what is important to us. And also, if you don't have a Valentine, well, go and give some Valentines out! You don't have to give them to people you fancy- think about how you could cheer up a friend!

In other news, dear readers, I am going away this weekend! Woo! And also, I met one of my favourite bloggers last weekend! I will tell all in my next post. Ah, gotta love this suspense thing!

Love,
Carla Gypsygirl xxx