Sorry for the unromantic title on this most romantic (according to Hallmark) of days. But I couldn’t get Tina Turner out of my head. As we get older (or progress, which is much nicer way of saying the same thing) we start to see these ritualistic holidays differently. For example: on New Year’s Eve we used to drink and eat and be merry until somebody shouted, “Turn on the TV, it’s one minute before midnight!” Whereas now we eat, drink, be merry, look at our watches and quietly say to ourselves, “Oh my god, it’s only 9:45 pm.” I know of a friend who said to his wife, “Let’s make a deal, I won’t buy you a cheesy Valentine’s Day card and you don’t buy me one, okay?” To which his wife of many years replied, “Okay, but don’t forget the giant Hershey’s chocolate kiss!” She has her priorities in order. In fact the funny card John and I wrote has spawned many requests like, “Can I get that card?” Or, “That’s my kind of card.” Or, “Now THAT card, I’d buy.” Which brought us back to seven years ago when we were starting to publish our comic strip. A friend of ours suggested we go into greeting cards to make extra money. This proves to me she may have been right. But John and I didn’t say to each other, “Hey, wanna join me in making holiday-themed cards?” No, we said, “Let’s do a comic strip.” Plus, I’m extremely lazy. Now if you still really want a series of New 60 Greeting Cards, drop us a comment, and we will take it under advisement (which is a government double-speak way of saying, “We’ll do it when hell freezes over. Or until Greenland melts," which is actually happening.)

But still, Valentine’s Day is a good excuse to cuddle up with a loved one. As we pointed out in our “Then and Now” series, the price of being romantic on Valentine’s Day is soaring, along with everything else. I actually looked at three of our favorite local restaurants and everyone of them had a “pre-fixe, 3 course dinner, wine additional,” instead of their regular menus. Also, you have limited choices. The prices were so crazy, we decided to cook at home tonight. It brought me back about seven or eight years ago to a Valentine’s night. John and I attended a New Yorker cartoonists retrospective at the NY Historical Society. When that ended I met my wife at a Harlem sushi restaurant. When making the reservation, I had forgotten to check out their Valentine’s Day special menu. We went into this special, off the beaten track, restaurant and were confronted with a tented Valentine’s Special card with two options: the 8-piece omakase menu for $350 each or the 10-piece for a mere $75 extra. And they don’t even have to cook anything. It’s all raw. The place was bedlam and disorganized and when we heard yelling from the kitchen and heard a huge tray of plates and glasses smash on the floor, we were out of there before dessert. We showed them!

So whether you decide to eat at home or go out for a nice dinner (not every place is priced like NYC) have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. And remember this, as Whitney Houston used to sing: And we-ee-ee, will always love you.

Andy and John