An Little Indiscreet Dinner Table Revelation

The She-wolf and I recently celebrated a very romantic Valentine's Day in Hawaii. We went to
Kauai for several days for our annual firm retreat, after which we returned to the Big Island to the Hilton’s Grand Waikoloa resort. We had taken our kids to this resort about a decade ago and had a fabulous time. As a pre-Valentine Day gift my thoughtful wife gave me a totally awesome T-shirt that read: I Put the "Man" in Romance.

Enough said. If you buy yourself the shirt, you appear the desperate fool. It's absolutely meaningless. However, if your lover gifts you the shirt, YOU are the man! The fact that this shirt was gifted to me by my lover truly communicated something special to me. To say that I was thrilled, would be a mild understatement.

Now when it comes to the “Romance-O-Meter” I have always considered myself somewhere near the top. The Shirt simply confirmed what I already believed to be true. I planned on wearing The Shirt on Valentine’s Day—maybe even to a romantic dinner. Even though, a nice restaurant might frown at such casual attire, I reckoned that an exception would likely be countenanced for my wife’s romantic gesture.

Several days before Valentine’s Day, we were having dinner with our law partners at Roy's in Kauai, when Mistee Verhulp (one of my partners) asked the Sheila, “Do you have any special plans for Valentine’s Day?” My wife replied, “Not really. Although, we are trying to get reservations for The Beach House--a very nice restaurant that Darrell and I went to the night of our 20th Wedding anniversary.” I interjected, “I’m pretty sure we’re going to have one of the most romantic Valentine’s Day of our entire marriage! Sheila has already bought me a most amazing gift, haven't you Sheila?!” Sheila, was apparently a little embarrassed by my bragging and declared, “Oh, as a joke, I bought Darrell, a silly little shirt.” ...Total silence on my part… I was musing to myself: What do you mean a silly little shirt? That shirt says it all, doesn't it?! Totally unaware of the dumb-cow look on my face, Sheila, cruelly continued, “Yeah, as a joke, I bought Darrell a funny T-shirt, that reads, I Put the Man in Romance.” “Ha, Ha, Ha!” Everyone was laughing…everyone that is, but me! I was devastated. “You mean it was joke? I thought you meant it. Why else would you give me such a cool shirt?” The crushed look on my face said it all. When Sheila saw the wrecked pain in my face, she tried to recover and say something sweet about me. However, the truth was already firmly established—The Shirt was merely a joke!

I am not sure how to put all of this in perspective really. I know that my wife loves me. She thinks about me all the time and is constantly doing nice things for me. She builds me up and speaks words of passion and love all the time. Despite all of this, at some level, apparently she doesn’t take me all that seriously. Her indiscretion was a cruel and painful revelation for me. Now, the worldwide readership that is Darrell's Yakimania well know that the naked truth is sometimes best to be avoided—this is particularly true in marital relationships. Yes, we demand fidelity and trust, but the TRUTH? Most definitely not all of the time. There are times that we simply need to be contented with honor, commitment and a lifetime of loyalty. I think the truth of how she treats me every day speaks louder than a slogan on some silly T-shirt. So in the future if you catch me proudly wearing the very cool shirt my wife thoughtfully gifted me for Valentine’s Day, go ahead, eat your hearts out--she might have really meant it! Well, that’s my version of the truth regardless of her little indiscreet dinner table revelation.