(This post was first published a year ago, on Travels With Bella Figura USA.  It resulted in more comments and emails than any other article.  So, since Valentine's Day is this Saturday, I decided to republish and see what Savvy Style readers had to say.)

Love is in the air – blah, blah, blah...

No honestly, I’m not a “scrooge” about Valentine’s Day – I just get a little hyped up about some of the gift giving nonsense surrounding it.

What?  Heresy you say.  You SELL gifts, you SELL Valentine's gifts you wrote a Gift Giving Guide!!  Yeah, yeah, yeah…  And I’m a big believer in gift giving.  And I do enjoy giving – and yes, I like receiving.

But sometimes the Valentine’s Day thing gets a bit warped.

Let me tell you a story – as true as I’m sitting here writing this:  A few years ago, a single female acquaintance told me she was quite unhappy about what she’d received from her new boyfriend on Valentine’s Day.  The guy had presented her with a single red rose and a small box of chocolates.  Hm, so far doesn’t sound too terrible to me.

Then she went on to say that she had let him know that she expected more - that she was used to receiving at least a dozen roses and chocolates –  sometimes jewelry, etc.  And then she hit him with this: she didn’t think his Valentine’s gifts were appropriate for her. 

Now this was a divorced woman - her husband of many years had left her for another woman.   And I found it extraordinary that she failed to see the irony in what she was telling the new beau.  “I’m used to XX, and that’s what I expect and want” – but the husband who had given her those gifts, HAD LEFT HER!!

I kind of wanted to slap her – if only to wake her up!   And yet, I must admit to feeling a bit ambivalent: I admired her for being honest and upfront about how she felt (you know how I feel about people expecting you to be a mind reader); BUT - I couldn’t help but feel she was getting hung up on all the wrong things.

What do you all think?  Do you agree with what she did?  Should she have said what she said to the boyfriend?  Do you think she had good reason to be upset?