My Valentines Love Story

It's a real shame when I think back over the years on all the failed Valentine's Days I've experienced. And when the answer finally came, it was such a shock that I wish I could've gone back and done the other ones over again. It goes back to an old lesson that people continue to forget but always comes back to ring true.

The first one I remember us having together was a disaster. We started off with just some small gifts. She bought me some chocolates and I bought her some candy as well with a teddy bear and some roses. It was a great start, if not a little typical, and we decided to go out and celebrate. We headed out to find a place to eat some dinner and of course, with such late planning, we had no reservations. So we started the questioning... "Where do you want to eat?" "I don't care, where do you want to eat?" This went on a bit until suddenly, we were frustrated with each other and the inability to make a decision on such a petty thing. And yes, of all the stupid things to argue about, we broke into an argument that ruined the entire evening.

I remember a second one that went horribly wrong right from the beginning. Once again, due to lack of planning, we had no reservations and went out looking for a way to celebrate. This time, after trying every decent place to eat, we decided that any place was better than none and pulled into a Pizza Hut. After all, it was the company that mattered on this night, not the food. It turns out, however, that company was all we got. We sat down and, even though it was busy, we waited nearly an hour for someone to come and even take our order. While this was frustrating enough, we decided to stick it out and try to enjoy it. Another half an hour passed and still we didn't have our food. Going out and trying to find another place to eat at this hour on Valentine's was out of the question so I finally had to go and find someone to ask about our food. He apologized and said our order had been skipped and then brought us the cold remnants of what was made for us nearly 45 minutes prior. We left with no dinner and another Valentine's Day ruined.

Toss in a couple more failed Valentine's Day failures and we're about to the successes. It was almost Valentine's and we were discussing what to do that year. We talked through all of the other years and the failures and their causes. And finally, after all of the suggestions and ideas, we decided that we would try something unheard of for Valentine's Day. We would stay home and just spend time together. Yes, and it was amazing. We spent a good three or more hours on a sofa watching movies with the lights off, snuggling under a blanket and just holding each other. Then we lay and talked for about an hour after that and then we made dinner together and ate it at... our kitchen table.

It was perfect. In fact, it was so good that we've done that or something similar almost every year since. And they've all been great. Including the one year we decided to make each other Valentine's Cards and gifts. It was excellent and we had fun laughing at each other's attempts at making something nice. I guess the moral of this story is that good times shouldn't be about how much money you can spend on each other or how much you can spend at an expensive restaurant but more about the person you love enough to spend them with. And you know the best part about that kind of Valentine's Day? You don't need reservations for any of it.