With the final exam just eight days away, it’s time to review the question. What do women really want for Valentine’s Day?
There’s only one safe guess.
Have one dozen (12, not six) long-stemmed red roses, delivered to her office, dormitory, or carpool lane on February 14 (not Feb. 13 and not Feb. 15), accompanied by a simple but elegant white card written by hand in black ink.
The card should say “I love you.” That’s all.
No vase, no Hallmark card, no candy, and no jewelry, unless it’s a solitaire diamond or anniversary band.
It’s fine to give these things, but only as add-ons. They go to the cumulative quantity of love. Long-stemmed red roses are the base line.
Sexy lingerie, in red or black, is good too, but taken alone, she’ll view it the same way Marge Simpson saw the bowling ball she got from Homer for her birthday: as a give-back for the giver.
Only the long-stemmed, deep red rose conveys the simple message of what Valentine’s Day is all about: “I love you.”
It’s just so simple. Why don’t men get it?
And yet ,what do women really want"?
<mh>Let’s Ask Them
<bt>Jen Caputo, from Vienna, said her husband is taking her out to dinner this year, but that she’s not into the traditional Valentine's Day.
"Flowers are nice, but I don’t really expect them," she said. "And I don’t want roses. No card, no roses, no candy. I don’t go for that."
Caputo said she doesn’t buy into the commercialization of the holiday.
"Valentine's Day is really not that big a deal. It’s kind of hokey, just something Hallmark gets more money for," Caputo said.
Last Sunday at the Tavern in Great Falls, there were a lot of women watching the Super Bowl with their husbands and boyfriends. While the guys were watching the game, some of them answered the question, “What do you really want for Valentine’s Day?”
Carol O’Connell: “I just read Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ again. I want Fitzwilliam Darcy.”
Susan Diemer (her sister): “Our dad was president of the Chocolate Manufacturers’ Association: We never want chocolates. No roses. No fragrances. (I want) Cut spring flowers like irises or tulips: No baby’s breath and no filler.
“I really like tulips, cut, pink silvers.”
Joyce Sutcliffe: “I’d like to have a companion.”
Marcia Fouquet: “Six Fibert paintbrushes made out of sable. And a house-husband with lots of energy, but with no romance.”
Alisa Broadwater: “Food. Dinner out, at the Palm. Lobster.”
Jackie Broadwater (her sister): “A getaway at an inn. Someplace small and quiet, with, like, horseback riding. I just want to be surprised.”
Lisa Buskell: “I want him to get me up and say, ‘We’re going to New York for the day.’ Then go to a museum, and to dinner. I’d like to be surprised.”
Colleen Karmol: Other than romance, I can’t think of anything I want.”
Notice how many women specified that they don’t want to do the research, or make the reservations. They want romance and they want the unexpected, but most of all, they want him to do the legwork.