What a card

I'm the early riser in my house, so when my husband got up yesterday he found a Valentine's card and gift from me. We usually don't make a big deal of the "holiday," so he was a little surprised. Every day is Valentine's Day here in the Middle of Nowhere! Heh.

He had to be gone most of the day, and when he came home he handed me a very large pink envelope. I certainly didn't intend for him to go out and get me a card just because I got him one, but he said he'd planned to get one anyway. And his history is that he always buys cards on The Day They Need To Be Given. In other words, I've never woken up and found a card waiting for me.

Before I opened it, he half-jokingly said he could have bought me dinner for what he paid for the card.

Now, if you haven't figured it out by now, we're pretty frugal around here. For my husband to spend a significant amount of money on a card was not only completely out of character, it was – in my opinion – completely unnecessary.

Not enough for a fancy dinner,
you understand, but somewhere
here in the Middle of Nowhere we
could probably find dinner for $9.

You know what, though? It was a beautiful card and it said exactly what he wanted to say. We've been together for 19 years (our first date was February 13, 1993), and there've been lots of ups and downs during those years and he wanted to tell me … well, I'm not going to go into all the mushy details.

Suffice it to say I was touched and pleased. Especially when he said he thought the card would probably be $4 or $5, but when the cashier told him it was $9.53 he bought it anyway.

He's done things like that before. The most memorable time was when we rescued a cat that had been wounded by a wild animal. Before we took her to the vet, I asked him how much he was willing to spend to save this cat's life. He thought for a minute and said, "$100."

When the vet assessed the damaged feline she said it would cost around $250 to stitch her up, vaccinate and spay her. And he said, "Of course. Whatever it takes." He didn't even hesitate.

That happened before I moved in with him, and I decided right then and there he was a keeper.

How about you? If you're in a committed relationship, what was the defining moment when you knew you weren't going to let him or her get away?