My mum came to stay this weekend and dropped some none too subtle hints to my husband that it's Valentines Day on Tuesday and therefore he should spoil me whilst announcing that she and her husband are "not doing" Valentines Day anymore. It's overhyped over-commercialised and an excuse for the shops and restaurants to charge over the odds for sub-standard rubbish. But I know she'll be just a little bit disappointed if she doesn't get a bunch of flowers.
Perhaps it's one of those male-female communication issues where she says "of course you don't have to get me anything" and he takes her at her word failing to read the subtext of "but I really want you to"? And she then interprets the absence of card/gift/romantic dinner as lack of effort/care/attention etc. Unless there are other serious underlying issues I doubt there are many marriages that couldn't survive something...
Read the full article here.