Valentines for a Tomboy Part II

February 13, 2012

Let’s talk diamonds now. Women love these. They are known to be a “lady’s best friend” like how a dog is man’s best friend. I like diamonds too, and I own a few pieces with them on it, but my jewelry box is not a King Solomon’s Mine. I would like to have the dog more than the diamonds. Most of my jewelry is Indian jewelry, but anyway back to what I was saying. I only wear diamonds on special occasions. Most of the time I’m too rough on jewelry since I do rough things. Things can get lost. If the diamond is too big or not set in very well, it can fall out. I don’t wear stud earrings because there is always one that wants to jump off my ear regardless if I check regularly or not. They cost too much for this to happen. I don’t want to cast my line at the lake and my ring come off and bloop in the lake and sink to the bottom to never be found again. Things also can get lost in the woods.  If you go off road you can’t backtrack to the last trail or part of the forest you were at last. If you go off road there may or may not be a trail, and if there is a trail it was made by the animals and not by people. It’s a lost cause if it gets lost. I would feel really bad so I keep it safe at home unless I go somewhere special.

Now let’s talk about the fine dinner. Being from the backwoods and being a tomboy what is considered “nice” is probably vastly different from others. I have examples of where my husband and I like to eat. We never eat at a restaurant where we expect a $200 tab. Some people may like that, but to me that’s crazy. I probably can’t read the menu since it’s all written in French or I can’t identify what it is. If Rusty and I went to a fancy restaurant, I see a scene flashing in my head: the one in the movie Cowboy Way where Sonny and Pepper go into the fancy restaurant. Funny, but not for real life. What if the food stinks and it costs $200? Not cool. Forget paté, I would rather try some gator gumbo instead. The local steak or fish house or barbecue pit works just fine for me.

Now, we have the movie choice. On a day centered around love, most women want to go see a love story or a drama. Bor-ring! If I want to see a movie I want some excitement. I don’t want to fall asleep or get restless. Anything but a love story will do the trick. I have a different idea of what “romantic” looks like anyway. Let’s go on an adventure together—anything exciting. Don’t bore me.

Last but not least, chocolate. I LOVE chocolate. I am a die hard chocoholic. I have created this phrase in my family, “There is no such thing as too much chocolate.” I eat chocolate on chocolate. I created a dessert when we went to Ryan’s steak house: chocolate ice cream with hot fudge, M&M’s, chocolate chips. Mmm. I called it the Chocolate Slam. If there was anything else chocolate lying around it would go in it too. I can eat really dark chocolate at like 98% cacao; it’s hard to find, but it exists. I can’t eat straight Hershey’s coco powder. It’s too bitter. I can drink Hershey’s syrup right from the can though. This traditional gift I love that don’t mind getting. Even the most expensive chocolate you get a lot for your money. You can’t go wrong with chocolate or mess it up unless you leave it in the car and it melts. That’s not likely to happen in February though. It’s just a shame it doesn’t last, and that’s the only problem I have with it. But, please, don’t put it in a pink box. After I eat the chocolate it becomes a target if it is pink!

Now I will share with you some of my nontraditional Valentine’s Day stories with my significant other, Rusty. In these stories we were dating.

In February of 2005 Rusty and I had been dating for almost a year. We began dating in March of 2004. For our first date we went crappie fishing for two reasons: 1) we both liked fishing 2) neither of us had ever dated before so we picked something where we didn’t have to talk. On our first date we were so scared of each other for the obvious reasons of not knowing each other and never dating. Both of us are incredibly shy, so I’ll never know how we continued on after that. Anyway, he asked my parents about what to get me for Valentine’s Day. He was a beginner, and so was I. The only Valentine’s Day gifts I ever got in my life mostly came from my parents. Anyway, for our first Valentine’s Day I got him chocolate since guys like food, and he got me a brand new baitcaster rod and reel. It was perfect. Our first date was fishing, and a baitcaster was the only kind of fishing pole I didn’t own. It was also something that wouldn’t be gone in a week. I still have this today and use it for bass and catfish fishing.

The next year in 2006 I got another cool gift. Every year Rusty and his family would play paintball. I didn’t have my own gun so I had to borrow one. This time though he decided to surprise me and get me one with all the props: CO2 tank, mask, and hopper. Also, it wasn’t your average painball gun that everyone else had. It was a newer version of the one he had which was super cool. It had three settings: single shot, semi automatic, and fully automatic. He and I did some serious damage with two people with fully automatic guns. It was a blast and I still have this as well, but unfortunately we haven’t had a war in a few years.

The next year in 2007 was a bit more conservative, but nonetheless special. We decided to do dinner and a movie. We didn’t go to an expensive restaurant; we went to Steak N’ Shake. That is one of our favorite “special” places to eat. The other two are Longhorn’s or Ted’s Montana Grill. We don’t do Red Lobster since Rusty hates seafood, but I wished he did. If we ever go to a fish house we make sure they also have steak for him. When we go to Ted’s, we always order bison steak since we feel like you can eat regular beef anywhere else. It costs more than beef, and this is the only place in town or anywhere that sells something besides beef, and this is why it is special to us…our own thing. When we go to Steak N’ Shake, we get a steak burger apiece, some chili cheese fries, and one of their delectable milkshakes. They have all kinds, but they’re all good. We are usually overstuffed when we leave and have leftovers I take home. Now for the movie. We don’t watch love stories. I can’t stand them; they’re boring, and neither can he. We’re not watching a love story Valentine’s Day or not. We want something with action, but he let me choose the movie. What do we watch? Rambo. This is the 2007 movie where Stallone is about 70 years old, but we don’t care. It sure beats a love story or a kid’s film. There were only a couple other couples in that room, so we were in luck. While some men were bored to tears and women were crying at their love story movie, Rusty, I, and a couple other people were watching people getting shot and blown up. It was great. The best day ever!

We had other occasions that were dinner and a movie, and not necessarily on Valentine’s Day, but on our anniversary or something. We watch some kind of action packed movie and go to one of our favorite special restaurants. Sometimes we even eat at the Waffle House. I’m perfectly happy with that. A picnic dinner at the park in the woods works too. No fancy restaurant where I can’t identify or pronounce the dish is not necessary.

How about this? Some of the special gifts I have gotten have also been alive. For anyone not keen it wasn’t a puppy or a kitten even though I love them too. Sometimes I would get one of these as a total surprise. Not too many ladies would be thrilled for their guy to bring them home a snake! I love a snake as much as a puppy. It wasn’t always a snake though. One day he brought home a red footed tortoise he had found and rescued on the job site. We don’t know if she had escaped or had been thrown out. I got a picture message with a picture of her and a text that asked, “Can we keep her?” Long story short, we still have her, and her name is Tori. She’s about the size of a football and weighs about ten pounds and growing. She can eat an entire head of lettuce in one day.

This is the way we do things. We do things where the two of us can enjoy ourselves pain free. We do our other celebrations the same way. We want our special days to be enjoyable and not painful. We actually have two anniversaries, our dating anniversary which is March 28, and our wedding anniversary which is August 30. It’s perfect since it is close to fall and before hunting season starts. Guess who came up with the idea of having two anniversary dates? Here’s a hint: it wasn’t me. That must mean that I must doing something right and easy to get along with on special days since he went out of his way to create our own special day besides the norm. How often does a guy do that? Kudos to the guys who do this and to the ladies who earn it with their guy.

I was untraditional in my wedding as well. We dressed in camouflage. I didn’t wear a dress, and he didn’t wear a tux. We got married in front of a waterfall in the woods where we like to be. It was small and simple. There was no big wedding that broke the bank. Neither of us like crowds. Everyone tells us that it fit us like a glove. I wanted him and me to cherish the day and not dread it or have nightmares about it. I didn’t want any memories or pictures of him looking like a fish out of water on that day or me either.

For those that love ‘going all out’ it’s perfectly fine if that works for you. That’s just now how we roll. Tomboys like to keep things simple, and it doesn’t take much to make us happy. I hope I helped a guy out somewhere understand how tomboys tick!

AK Taylor

About the Author

AK Taylor

AK Taylor is an award winning YA author who has been writing novels since age 16. Beekeeper, outdoor sportsman, avid adventurer, and animal lover. Taylor lives in the backwoods of Middle GA where she continues to write stories.

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  • Anonymous says:

    I am trying to find some ideas for my badass girlfriend but all this article did was bag on the traditional gifts…. why spend so much time telling us what you don’t like?

    • You must have given up too soon. I talk about what I do like. It’s just me and my guy are not traditional. I didn’t totally bag on chocolate or eating out at all. You and your girlfriend may be traditional. Elaborate more what she likes. What is her hobby?

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