A few years ago, I flew back to North Dakota to attend a high school reunion for my graduating class. I won’t tell you whether it was a 20-year, a 30-year, a 40-year, or a 50-year reunion because that is immaterial. Suffice it to say that I was attending a reunion. Anyway, I didn’t fly to North Dakota. I flew to Minneapolis and drove a rental car from Minneapolis over to North Dakota. Cuz if you’ve ever tried to fly into one of the two airports in North Dakota, you’d have to mortgage a house and sell a car in order to pay for the airplane ticket to fly into one of those two airports. Notice that I said two airports. That’s right. Two airports. Count them. One, two. Yeah, there’s one in Bismarck, the state capital. And another one in Fargo, which is the largest city in North Dakota. Now, when I said that it’s the largest city, I didn’t mean that it’s a booming metropolis by any stretch of the imagination. Unless of course, you consider 60,000 people, give or take a few, a booming metropolis. Well then, I guess it’s a booming metropolis. Anyway, after the reunion. I drove back to Minneapolis to visit with my brother Craig for a few days. While I was at my brother’s house, I asked him how to get to the Mall of America. I wanted to go to the Mall of America for two reasons. First, it was supposed to be the biggest mall in the U.S. And second, I had never been there before. I thought those were pretty good reasons for going. Well, I also had another ulterior motive for going to the mall. I needed to buy a gift for my wife. I never returned home from a trip empty-handed. I always returned with a gift for my wife. My brother wasn’t really buying the first two reasons that I gave him. He looked at me and said, “Wright, you just ain’t the mall going sort. I smell bullshit. And let me tell you, that shit smells strong. You don’t want to go to no damn mall because it’s big and you ain’t never been there before. That’s just plain bullshit. So, what’s the real reason you want to go?” I replied, “Well, you see it’s like this. I need to get a gift for my wife. Cuz there’s a simple unwritten rule. You never leave the house for an extended period of time alone and return empty-handed. No Sir. You just don’t do it. The secret to a long, happy marriage is showing the people you care about that you love them every so often. How do you do that? When you go on a trip, you buy them a little gift to give them when you return. It is just one small way to say, “I love you.” You never forget to give them a gift on significant holidays such as their birthday, your anniversary, and Valentine’s Day. You never forget those days.” His wife was listening to what I was saying, and she interjected something into the conversation, “Craig, your brother is a very wise man. You should listen very carefully to what he is saying.” The long and short of that story is that my brother and I went to the Mall of America so that I could buy a gift for my wife. And that reminded me of another incident that happened a long time ago when I was in the Army. But why did I tell you, dear readers, the first story? Was it to maybe tell you the secret to a long and loving marriage? Possibly. But I think not. I think I had quite another reason altogether. I think the real reason I told the first story was to let you know why I think remembering important holidays like Valentine’s Day and your anniversary and your significant other’s birthday is so important. It is one thing to talk the talk. But it is yet something totally different to walk the walk. Remembering those important holidays and buying a little something that says, “I love you,” shows that you can walk the walk. This coming weekend is Valentine’s Day. And this story as a backdrop or a backstory to set the stage for what I’m about to tell you. Let me set the stage. I’m going to take you all the way back to the winter of 1984. When I say winter of 1984, I am talking early 1984, right after the turn of the year to around Groundhog Day. Are you with me? Good. The time-frame was late January or early February 1984. The location was Fort Lewis, Washington. My soldiers and I were preparing for a massive deployment. What they didn’t know at the time was that the deployment would be an offshore deployment. In order to prepare for that deployment, my Battalion had us working 18-hour days, seven days a week. The soldiers were granted an hour for meals and an hour on the weekends for religious services. That was pretty much it for free time. One day in February, I walked into my shop office and I saw my warrant officer wrapping a gift. I thought that was rather odd. So, naturally, I had to ask him what he was doing, “Hey chief, what are you doing there?” He replied, “Hey Lieutenant, I’m wrapping a Valentine’s Day gift for my wife.” “A Valentine’s Day gift? Oh shit! I forgot all about that. Hey, can you cover for me for about 30 minutes? I gotta run to the PX.” “What? Did you forget about a gift for your wife?” “Yeah. Well, you know. We’ve been working practically around-the-clock. Time just blew right by me. I don’t have a card. I don’t have a gift. I don’t have shit. And I don’t want to do the lame ass flowers drill.” “I heard you. And you don’t want to be in the doghouse either.” “Oh, hell no. Not with the way it’s been raining. The goddamn doghouse leaks. And my backyard is flooded. And my dog stinks. Not no but hell no.” “Well, then, I guess you better get over to the PX and get your wife a little gift and a card.” “Say no more. I am on my way. You’re a lifesaver, chief. Thanks.” I drove over to the PX and bought my wife a Valentine’s Day gift and card that I could take home to give her that evening because the next day was Valentine’s Day. If I had not seen the chief wrapping that gift for his wife, I would have completely forgotten all about Valentine’s Day. If I had forgotten about Valentine’s Day, I would not have given my wife a small gift to demonstrate my love for her. I did not even want to think about the potential exercises in futility that something as simple as forgetting to purchase a gift might cause.
by 
by 