In honour of Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share my thoughts on love, romance and affairs of the heart. There was a time when I subscribed to all the traditional ideas about romantic gift giving – chocolates, flowers, jewelry, champagne and candle-lit dinners. Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty of room for all those fine things in my life, but over the last few years, my wife and I started to think a little deeper about gifts that can send a stronger message.
If you love to travel, you realize early on that you need to be healthy and fit to really get the most out of your experience. Whether it’s being able to climb a mountain to witness a spectacular view, having the strength to snorkel for hours or ski for an afternoon, taking care of yourself pays big dividends.
I think my family was adopting my philosophy when I received a high-end smoothie blender from my wife and a tub of whey protein powder from my daughter on a past Father’s Day. We also try to give gifts of experiences during our travels. Perhaps it’s booking a surprise tour to swim with Stingrays, reservations to a world class restaurant, or something exciting like a helicopter tour. In my book, nothing is better than giving an amazing memory as a gift!
A friend of mine shares a similar philosophy. For Valentine’s Day this year, he outfitted his wife’s car with snow tires to battle this horrible Canadian winter. While some people may think that tires are not a very romantic gift, I couldn’t disagree more. A gift like this says, “I love you and care about you and I want you to be safe.” What could be more romantic than that!
And this brings me to the gift I received this Valentine’s Day. I mentioned to my wife several weeks ago that I would really like to get into trail running this spring. I had been doing some research on various “bare foot” trail running shoes, and my amazing wife did her own research and surprised me with this awesome pair of Merrell shoes pictured above. I guess only an outdoorsy fitness geek like me would get excited for a gift like this, but I loved it! Yes indeed, nothing says love like the gift of well-being.
Incidentally, this year I gave my wife a sexy new heart monitor watch that also tracks distance travelled and calories burned. Oh yeah…love is in the air! After all, Valentine’s Day is all about the heart. For now, back to the cage.
