in the company of old men

Valentines day is always a bit awkward for me. At work everybody always asks what do you have planned tonight? with that weird little half-smile. Then when I say Meh... I've got nothing planned I always get the semi-pitiful aww, it's ok... accompanied by a semi-disingenuous pat on the shoulder and some other words. Without fail, it happens.


It happened today.


*sigh* ...oh well.


Anywho, the first year I starting coming out to Acacia, the guys decided to start a tradition of doing sister's appreciation on valentines day, which was cool. The best part about it wasn't that there was something to do that day, or that we were appreciating the girls (which, don't get me wrong, was the main focus). The best part of that was seeing all the guys working for a common purpose, to put together something that would make the girls feel appreciated. As I recall, we were able to put together some pretty intricate stuff, especially considering most of it was coordinated over an email chain. We did that for three years and it was pretty fun. I'm not really sure why that trailed off after the third year, but I guess times change.

Last year, I had a city budget meeting on valentines day. It was kind of weird, because I'm the youngest guy there, as everyone else on the commission is at least 40+ (and married). Since I didn't really have anything better to do (yeah, I know, aww, it's ok *pat* blah blah), it was a little funny watching every other guy in the room nervously staring at the clock as we discussed park fees and zoning regs. Normally these old folks are pretty long-winded (our meetings tend to run 1-2 hours long), but man oh man, did these guys expedite things. I think we made it out of that meeting with time to spare! I'm still amazed to this day that their wives let them come out to the meeting on valentines day.

This year, the budget meeting was last night, so those old folks were able to spend today with their wives at least. Me? Meh...I had nothing planned (yep, I know, aww, it's ok *pat* blah blah) so I went to church prayer meeting with a different group of old folks (and some young folks too). It was cool because a lady came to share about missions in Mozambique. She works with an organization that starts churches in little villages and opens schools for the orphans and kids in need. Apparently Mozambique's population, because of the recent civil war, is about 50% children. Craziness. After that we split up into our usual groups to pray.

As I was driving back home, it suddenly occurred to me that my old tradition of spending valentines day doing sister's appreciation has inadvertently been replaced by a recent two year run of spending time with old folks. Not exactly what I had in mind (i'm sure my parents wouldn't be too thrilled with that notion either), but it's weird, over the last five or so years, the mild awkwardness I usually feel around valentines day doesn't seem so bad anymore. I could still do without the shoulder pats and stuff, and maybe shifting from old folks to people my age would be ideal (guys...it's time to move sis' appreciation back to mid-feb), but you know, it actually turned out to be a pretty interesting way to spend a valentines day.