With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I thought I’d hop aboard the Hallmark bandwagon and have a peruse of The Broadway during my lunch hour and see if I could find something to surprise Husband with in the morning. I went into a shop that sells generalised Object D’Art and other pointless, middle-class tat and noticed that they had some cards, and I toyed with the idea of getting one, despite the fact that we don’t usually do greetings cards.
The offerings on display reminded me why. There was either unbridled schmaltz with “You’re my Soul Mate” plastered all over it, homogonised sexuality declaring “You’re a Love Machine!” and attempts at romantic humour with “Me Love You Long Time!” (although, quite why anyone would give a card to their loved one with a famous phrase uttered by a Vietnamese prostitute in a war film is quite beyond me). Each and every one of them made me feel nauseous. There’s no way I’d say any of the things written on these cards to Husband, despite the fact that I love him and if I believed in soul mates, he’d probably be mine.
I got to thinking that I’m probably not the only one who feels like this, so I thought I’d come up with some alternative Valentine’s Day card slogans, for those of us who like to keep our breakfast down.
“To My Husband – Thanks For Making Me Feel Sexy, Even Though My Neck Smells of Baby Sick”
“My Darling – I Love You (especially when you put your dirty washing in the laundry basket)”
“Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, You Cook a Wicked Steak and I Right Fancy You”
“I’ll never be as young or limber as I was when we met…but I’m a better cook now, so that makes me about even, right?!”
“Fuck it, Let’s Get a Bucket”
What would your perfect Valentine’s card say?