Alex needed a ride to the mall, Rachel wanted to tag along, Char wanted to shop for clothes for Kevin, and somehow that meant he and I had to go. While Alex and Rachel went off together, Char dragged us from store to store, and in the fifth one Kevin looked up and me and asked earnestly, Dad, what are we being punished for?

I had no reasonable answer for him.

We caught up to the other kids near a jewelry kiosk, where Rachel was warning Alex to get his girlfriend a necklace instead of earrings; a necklace box is obvious, she told him, but an earring box can be mistaken for a ring box, and it wouldn't be fair to make her think she was getting something she wasn't, and if she thought it was a ring she'd would be wondering what the hell it meant.

Valentine's Day was a lot less complicated when I was their age. A card and candy, or a card and a rose, and you were covered, and no one worried about any potential hidden meanings.

He couldn't let her be right; be bought a (very nice but not expensive) ID bracelet and had her name engraved on it, which prompted Kevin to roll his eyes and tell Alex he was dense.

Duh. She knows her own name.

I can't argue with his logic.