crossposted at blogher.com

Valentine’s Day has always been a bit of a tense joke in our house. You see after nearly 9 years of marriage and those many years of dating before hand- Valentine’s Day has always, without question, sucked.

It’s been known since our very first V-Day in 1997, after a year of dating, as “the day we fight and eat Italian Food.”

My husband tells the story of our first Valentine’s Day as “that time I took you to that super nice Italian restaurant in Orlando and you wouldn’t stop interrupting me so I stopped talking.”

I tell the story as “that time you ruined our special night out because you told me you didn’t ever want to get married or have kids.”

Sucker.

Anyway, every single year since that first fateful holiday we’ve gotten Italian food and fought. Every. Single. Year. Even the years I was pregnant and stuck in bed, we’ve had Italian food. Even the years one of us was at work, we had Italian carry out on an office floor. Even the years we’ve forgotten it was even a holiday, we’ve ended up with some sort of pasta and red sauce and wine.

Call it tradition. Call it “Erin has ridiculous, romantic expectations.” Call it my yearly disappointment.

Actually, I take that back. It USED to be my yearly disappointment. When my husband, very unceremoniously, announced he wasn’t going to participate in that “Stupid, fake, Hallmark Holiday” and never buy me a gift I was pretty pissed off. No presents? What the hell? Not even some flowers? Jerk. And every year I would brood and pout and more than likely instigate the fight that would inevitably follow the eggplant parm.

But as time went on, I recognized something almost sweet in our little tradition. Just that fact that we HAD a tradition was a meaningful way to celebrate the hoilday. And we did it in our own way…every year we get Italian food and every year we laugh about that first horrible V-Day and every year we end up fighting all over again.

It’s almost cute. It’s almost romantic. It’s certainly a married couple’s Valentine’s Day.

What are your Valentine traditions? Do you have any? Do you have those expectations like I always do of candy and roses?

I can’t be the only one.

For some more Valentine’s fun check out

Joy to the Blog

WiseBread

Jendi’s Journal

Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest also blogs at Queen of Spain Blog

I’ve admittedly been lazy about this. Annoyed but not feeling the need to scream and yell.

However Glennia and Belinda reminded me that sometimes the only way to tell someone to #suckit, is with your wallet.

Queen of Spain blog will no longer be a Go Daddy domain. My blog has up and moved. #suckit, Go Daddy.

Thanks to Jeremy Tanner for the help.