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Flowers and candy not needed

Posted Feb 16, 2010 by Beth Gaddis

Updated Feb 16, 2010 at 08:50 AM

For this Valentine’s Day weekend, my husband and I did something we hadn’t done in almost a year.

We spent a day together.  Alone.  No kids.  It was heaven.

My parents are down from Massachusetts and shooed us out the door at 10 a.m. with lots of “Have fun!” and “Don’t come back until dinnertime!”

We didn’t need to be told twice.  We jumped in the car and headed to the new Tampa Museum of Art.  The exhibition was a disappointment, but the freedom of being able to wander through at our own speed was liberating.  We poked through the gift shop, wandered down to the riverfront, then moseyed back to our car, discussing the best options for lunch.

We headed over to Ybor City where we enjoyed a great Spanish meal at Carmine’s, a place that has more atmosphere and buzz than the art museum did.  It had been a while since we had gone out to eat without the kids, long enough to appreciate the novelty of adult conversation and not having to cut up anybody’s food but our own.

We stopped in at Joffrey’s for coffee and hot chocolate, people watched for a while, then drove over to the Florida State Fair.  We pitied the parents who were struggling to push strollers through the mud or pulling tired toddlers past the rides.  We were free, free to make our own plans, and better yet, to change them as desired.

On the way home, we did some shopping for Carter’s birthday.  It was a spontaneous decision; it wasn’t even on the way.  How wonderful. 

We didn’t need candles or candy or flowers.  The romance was in the re-connecting. 

It was one of the best Valentine’s Day ever.