>We had gotten out of the habit of trying to make each other feel special. A gift, even a small one, can change things quite a bit - like clearing the "laundry list" of bad deeds that Mark mentioned.

Nah, the list is always stored away no matter the gifts or flowers. It just takes a bigger gaffe in order to retrieve the list. Then its off to get another peace offering and the list gets put in storage again. Smart guys only screw up Valentine's Day once. Fortunately for me, mine occurred over 17 years ago. I hope your gift was color appropriate.