Celebrating Valentine’s, Ash Wednesday style
Valentine’s Day is the High Holy Day of Romance. The day a guy has to step up or risk having his sweetheart sour on him.
There is, however, a slight twist in Valentine’s Day this year. It falls on Ash Wednesday. That shouldn’t be. Nothing romantic about ashes, fasting, abstinence and sackcloth.
Easter is a movable religious feast and hopscotches all over the spring calendar. Why it can’t be anchored to a specific date like Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day escapes me.
The religious powers that be should have pushed Easter back a week this year so Valentine’s and Ash Wednesday weren’t on a collision course. What were they waiting for? Divine intervention?
If you’re in a relationship long enough, you run out of gift ideas to celebrate Valentine’s Day. So you fall back on the usual fare such as roses, chocolates, dinners at fine dining restaurants and champagne bubble baths after regrouting the tub together by candlelight.
OK, maybe not the bubble baths. I just threw that in at the end to see if you were paying attention.
Of course, a guy has another option this year since Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday are riding in tandem: Gift your honey with alms since almsgiving is all the Lenten rage. OK, maybe not.
With Valentine’s approaching like a Zack Wheeler fastball, it got me to thinking: What would be the perfect Valentine Day’s — if there were no financial limitations and no Ash Wednesday constraints?
For me, the choice is easy.
My wife fell in love with Paris when she was studying French in high school. It became her lifelong dream to someday see the Eiffel Tower in person.
We fulfilled her special dream by visiting Paris a few years ago and she cried with joy while gazing upon the beautifully lit Eiffel Tower in the evening.
The next day we got to climb the Eiffel Tower, which looked like a rusty erector set in the daylight. We also toured the splendor of the Louvre Museum but were surprised how small of a painting the Mona Lisa is. Perhaps Leonardo da Vinci was running low on paint. We capped the day by cruising the Seine River.
It was one of the most memorable days of my lovely wife’s life. For me, the experience ranked right up there with covering World Series games and heavyweight title fights.
Consequently, the perfect romantic Valentine’s Day celebration for us would be to again soak up the magic of Paris with a gourmet dinner cruise along the Seine and float past the city’s iconic monuments such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Ile de la Cité while we sip champagne.
Granted, that’s the ideal Valentine’s for us if money is no object. But let’s get real. Money always is an object.
Since my wife and I apparently will be spending this Valentine’s Day repenting for our sins and torturing ourselves with self-flagellation, we’ll have to wait until next year to celebrate Valentine’s with a Berks County flourish — breakfast at the Marvel Ranch, lunch at the Leesport Diner, dinner at the Peanut Bar and drinks at Mike’s Tavern.
Rowing a boat down the Schuylkill River under the stars while we gaze up at the Pagoda would be a fitting climax. Then again, perhaps not.