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Valentines advice for men
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If anyone reading this happens to know my husband don’t tell him that I spilled the beans about a rare moment when he got a romantic gesture just right.
 Let him keep believing he is Mr. Macho Man with no sensitive bone in his body.  Don’t let on that you know how last Valentine’s, in a moment of weakness, my manly man tuned into his sensitive side and made the smallest, most romantic gesture to show me he loves me in such a way that I will never forget.
 The reason I’m sharing this little tidbit with you is because I know Valentine’s Day can be kind of hard for guys being that they don’t always know what their special lady wants on this particular holiday. 
 Typically, fellas go for buying really expensive long stem roses, gourmet chocolates and even jewelry to show how much they care.   No doubt us ladies enjoy all those things but in truth what we really want from our special fella is something much smaller.   Don’t get me wrong, you can still load up on flowers and candy but what we want is a small personal gesture that says, I love you in a big way.
So this is where my macho man’s story comes in.  In years past, he would always have to work long hours on Valentine’s Day and so I would usually receive the traditional gourmet candy and high priced roses on his way out the door to work or on his way back in from a long day. He figured as a mushy girl that’s what I would want and while I certainly appreciated it, after a while it became more of a routine than anything.  But last year something changed.  For once, I had to work all day and he didn’t. 
 Perhaps it was because my hard working macho man finally had some down time to really think about what I might want on the day designated for sweethearts but when I got home from work and opened the front door, instead of the usual overpriced flowers and chocolates, I saw our small kitchen table placed in the center of our living room set with our fancy, “for special occasion only” crystal dishes.  I didn’t even know my husband knew where those dishes were in the cupboard but apparently he did.
 I was still in my work uniform smelling like sawdust (a smell you have when you work in a hardware store) when my husband motioned for me to sit down.  Now here’s the best part.  On the fancy crystal dish was half of a jumbo chicken burrito from one of our favorite Taqueria’s, La Costa’s, with the other half on my husband’s plate. And beneath the crystal plate that held my delicious chicken burrito wrapped in foil were rose petals from our rose bush in the front yard.  I took one look and cried happy tears all over my burrito. 
 It wasn’t the usual $50 long stem roses and $30 box of rich chocolates that told me after all this time I was still his Valentine’s, it was rose petals from our yard and a $4 burrito cut in half to share that said it all.  It was that rare moment where he forgot about being Mr. Macho Man and instead he displayed the smallest most meaningful gesture of love.
 Now don’t get me wrong fella’s, go out and buy the bouquet and chocolates if that is what makes your woman happy but if you really want to win her heart, go for a burrito-size gesture that lets her know you really love her in a big way.