Valentine's Day.....Schmalentine's Day!

DISCLAIMER: This blog entry has absolutely, positively nothing to do with being a working mom...it's just one of those stories I thought I would share.

I have never had a particularly good Valentine's Day.  I remember that February 14th my freshman year in college was a very drab day.  I walked into the dorm (good 'ole Tut, for those of you who attended UA) from my morning class, and there were bouquets of flowers EVERYWHERE!  This dorm had 13 stories with about 50-75 girls on each floor, so you can only imagine the chaos of looking through the mountains of bouquets to see if you were special enough to receive flowers.  I remember thinking how nice it would have been to walk over to a nice arrangement of gerber daisies and see my name on the tag.  However, I was not dating anyone at the time.  My best friend received not one, not two, not three....but four bouquets of flowers from four different guys that year.  I was in her room when the third and fourth bouquets were delivered, and like a good friend, I walked downstairs with her to pick both up.  You would think that she would have offered to let me take care of one of those arrangements.  But, no such luck.

I was dating someone my sophomore year.  Neither of us were interested in going out for dinner--he was the shy type and I don't like crowds.  We decided to keep gifts under $10 and I cooked dinner for him at our apartment.  I got him a goldfish and cooked a lovely meal (Chicken with a Lemon Cream Sauce, rice pilaf and green beans).  He got me a t-shirt.  Hmmmmm.  Boring

My junior and senior years, I hosted parties for friends who were "dateless."  This was actually a novel idea, and both guys and girls attended.  I cooked the famous Chicken with Lemon Cream Sauce and the group would usually go to a movie afterwards.  There were no expectations--just a regular old evening with friends.

As I got older, I disliked Valentine's Day more and more.

Until, I met him...you know...the man who is now my husband.  We met in August, met again two months later, and then started dating in November.  We spent time together at Christmas and on New Year's Eve/Day, and it all seemed so magical that we collectively decided to go all out with celebrating Valentine's Day. 

on the front porch in a swing...Winter 2000-01

After all, we owed a lot to "Cupid" for bringing us together.  I wore my cute red skirt, tall black boots and a flowery shirt to work that day.  I was so ready to have a REAL date for Valentine's Day!  I floated through the day, counting the minutes until 5:00 PM. 

Sometime around 3:00, I was paged over the intercom system.  My stomach flipped over at least twice!  Several of my coworkers had received floral arrangements that day.  Every time it was the same...they received a page over the intercom system, would walk upstairs, and then return with a huge smile and a bouquet of pretty red roses.  Could "he" have sent me flowers??? 

I strutted up the stairs, hoping for the first time that I would get a flower delivery.  The receptionist greeted me with a smile.  "Sherry, you have received a delivery..."  I looked around the reception area, but didn't see any flowers.  What kind of delivery?  "...but it was sent to one of our satellite offices."   Da da da da da........

I almost didn't hear what she was saying. It turns out that even though he had given the florist one of my business cards WITH MY WORK ADDRESS ON THE CARD, mind you, the delivery was made 17 miles away from my office.  Sorry for shouting.  I still wonder why things like this happen to me.  I think that the Good Lord above is desperately trying to make sure my life is adventursome.

Thankfully, my sweet boyfriend picked me up after work and drove me all the way to the satellite office to pick up the roses.  They were beautiful - the prettiest roses I had seen.  They were pink with dark pink on the edge of the petals.  I have a picture somewhere.

After picking up the roses, we decided to go to dinner.  I guess since neither of us had experienced a good Valentine's Day to that point, we didn't realize that you had to make reservations.  We probably stopped at 6 different locations only to hear, "there's a 3 hour wait..." or, "what do you mean you don't have a reservation on Valentine's Day?"    We ended up having a very lovely meal at a Japanese restaurant at a table with about 4 other couples we did not know who had apparently struggled with long waits and no reservations at other restaurants. 

All in all, it was still the best Valentine's Day either of us had ever had. 

Nowadays, we go out to dinner several days before or after V-day.  I usually buy him a pair of shoes, and he usually buys me donuts and a flower or two.  He's never tried to send me flowers again.  And I completely understand why.  It's just funny how things work out.  And it all seems to be perfectly fine...with or without a Valentine's Day bouquet or fancy date.

Valentine's Day 2010

Thanks for reading my horrible and sometimes very boring and pitiful Valentine's Day stories.

Good night.