Chocolate Dos (364), Chocolate Don'ts (1)

I am an unabashed and hopeless lover of chocolate. It’s so versatile. Failed resolution? Marital squabble? Chocolate. Financial set-back? Scholastic disappointment? Chocolate. Traffic stress? Bad hair day? Chocolate.

Far from being only an antidote to life’s little miseries though, chocolate can be a celebratory indulgence. This is why the chocolate fountain was invented. Nuts, breads, strawberries, all manner of melon, even marshmallows—they’re all wonderful. But run them under flowing liquid chocolate, and you’ve got a party going on.

Professional achievement? Wardrobe success? Chocolate. Found $10 bill in jeans? Was momentarily photogenic? Chocolate. Danced for no reason? Kid said something cute? Chocolate.

Years ago, I was recounting a now-forgotten woe to a friend. She listened with well-placed "hmmms" and "I sees" until at length I had vented. She paused, took me by the hands and said with gravity, “Sweetie, you just need chocolate.” We burst out laughing, went out for hot fudge sundaes, and all was well with the world.

More recently, I encountered a man in Wal-Mart who also shared my love for chocolate. We met on the chocolate aisle. Amid my browsing, I heard a heavy sigh. It was the man. He opined, “How do I keep my kids from eating chocolate all the time, when I myself want to eat chocolate all the time?” I gave him a polite laugh, but on the inside I wanted to flee the area, as this man had obviously gained access to my diary. Fleeing, however, was out of the question due to impossibly narrow aisles and the fact I had not yet made my chocolate selection, breaking and entering be darned.

So naturally, what I’ve asked my husband to give me on Valentine’s Day is . . . a thorough detail job on my car. Chocolate is many things. But a fitting token of the love between my honey and me it is not. Auto detailing, on the other hand, says, “I know you appreciate cleanliness and organization, I know your reality makes messes in your car and, most of all, I know you eat chocolate on quite a regular basis so why would it be special today?” And that is when I swoon. There’s nothing quite so romantic as knowing your partner knows you well.

So, as you contemplate what to give your sweetheart this year for Valentine’s Day, don’t just automatically go for the heart-shaped box of chocolate. Change the vacuum bag. Get the garden ready for Spring. Clean out the garage. Offer a foot rub. Whatever you know your honey will love, do that on Valentine’s Day. Then, on the next day, and all year long, give chocolate for no reason at all.