Regina Carlysle

Those cupids are pesky little devils! They are flyin’ around all over the place with Valentine’s Day only a few day away. Admittedly, when I was much younger, I got all mooshy and gooey over this particular holiday but these days? Not so much. Maybe when you’ve been married 27 yrs. it all becomes rather ‘old hat’. Or maybe it’s just US. Ha. Who knows? Mr. Regina tends to be a practical, rather than romantic, guy. His idea of showing he loves me is to wash and wax my car,get it filled up and put ‘shiny stuff’ on the tires. Mr. Romance. Ah but you’ve gotta love that and, in a way, respect it. During the early years of our marriage he would call me up, sigh loudly and say…ooooookay what kind of perfume do you want? I’ve always laughed about stuff like that but, hey, that’s probably why our marriage works.

I’ve come to realize over the years that some guys are talkers and some are doers. I’ll take a doer over a talker any day. He is dependable, tough, and the guy everyone goes to in a crisis. A few days ago he called and said…damn, honey, those roses are getting more expensive every year. I’m thinkin’…hmmmm. He’s thinking about Valentine’s Day here and this is a verrrry broad hint. So I say…wellll, I don’t think a guy HAS to go with roses, ya know. Those big, splashy gerber daisies are wonderful. He says…splashy huh? So I laugh. I say…yeah, SPLASHY. A few minutes later he calls to ask if our daughter’s apartment office will call her to pick up flowers or will they just deliver them directly and then calls to for my mother’s exact house number.

No wonder he didn’t want to do roses. He’s getting flowers for all of us! My daughter, my mom, his mom, and me. Now WHO SAYS he isn’t just a little bit romantic and very thoughtful. I’m not all that worried about the surprise being blown to hell and back. After all, Mr. Regina is about as subtle as a Mack truck. Gotta love that.

I believe the best Valentine’s Day thing he has EVER done was in 1986. I was eight months pregnant and feeling big as a damn cow or errrr….elephant. My Valentine was big, red, and featured a comical Elephant on it. After I laughed and smacked him with the card, he gave me a beautiful pair of pearl studs. An awwww moment. Gotta love that…laughter and a few happy tears.