Happy Valentines Day! Today, the day of love, is meant to be enjoyed with the one that melts your heart. Romance is in the air and most likely you will have something special planned with your sweetie. I WANT to love Valentines day, however, Valentine’s Day has burned me so badly in the past that I have no choice but to think that St. Valentine has it out for me (I’m pretty sure he has my picture on his wall…probably with a dart in my forehead). Hubby and I have some sort of Valentine’s Day curse that over the years we have quit trying to defy and now we accept…acceptance is much better.
Today, when most of you are headed out…or headed in for Valentine’s Day with your honey, I would like to recount some of my worst Valentine’s flubs. By the end, I am sure you will agree that my hubby and I should lay low on this holiday…just to be safe.
First, my hubby and I have been together since high school. That’s a whole lotta Valentine’s gone wrong! Without further ado…the list!
When hubby and I were teenagers, probably just out of high school, he made Valentine’s reservations in Beverly Hills at Le Orange and then we were headed off to a hotel for the night. Now, key to this story is that hubby drove a brand new Camero, which we will learn is not the most stable car in the world. Driving through LA down the 405, a ghetto mobile decides to change lanes right into us. To avoid being hit, we swerve. The car over compensates sending us screaming across 4 lanes towards the center divider and for the record it was most likely me that was screaming. Of course, we then over compensate the other direction and go heading back across 5 lanes towards the big drop on the other side. One last time, the car gets pulled back towards the divider and that is when hubby spins the Camero in a circle and we come to a screeching halt. It’s LA, we could have been filming a movie! When I open my eyes, we are dead center in the middle of the freeway facing oncoming traffic (which has completely stopped). The closest car is about 30 feet in front of us. Everyone in the cars is staring at us with their mouths hanging open. We look around, we hit nothing! Hubby starts the car, we turn in a circle and continue driving. We probably should have stopped and gathered ourselves but I think we were too traumatized. The food was great when we arrived but we spent the rest of the night talking about how we almost died!
On the next Valentine’s day, we decided to keep it simple. I bought fried chicken and a coconut cream pie (hubby’s favorite). We decided to head down to the beach for a picnic. We started to set up but realized that it was going to be too windy. We drove to a cute park about 10 minutes away which was much better. I started pulling everything out and then realized that the chicken was COVERED in sand from the beach. Hubby said “that’s ok, lets just eat pie!” When I pulled out the pie, it was MELTED, dripping everywhere! I think we ended up driving through Taco Bell.
One year, we decided to go to Downtown Disney. Hubby had neglected to make reservations. Of course, I completely forgave him and didn’t mention it one more time that entire night…maybe… When we arrived, the place was packed! We put our name on a list, about 6 pages back from the front! She told us we could sit at the bar while we wait for our table…IF we could find a seat. We waited for almost 2 hours and then we found a seat at the bar! Woo Hoo! We started ordering drinks but no food even though it was on the menu. We wanted to sit inside, with the full menu. It was more cozy in there. 2 hours later at almost 11:30 pm we got our table. The place was nearly empty but we had waited this long! They sat us down, gave us our menu and asked for our drink order. We ordered a cocktail and I told her that these were the bar menus and we needed restaurant menus. Her reply was this “We don’t serve alcohol inside, only at the bar and those are the only menus, they are the same inside and outside.” WHAT?!?! You mean I have been sitting outside drinking and waiting for a table to come inside to a place I can’t drink and to order food I could have had 2 hours ago?!
I then spent a few years in the flower industry. The Valentine’s Days were spent helping guys figure out the meaning of roses and steering them clear of anything that might ruin their nights. Those Valentine’s Days were probably the most fun but NOT the most romantic.
Things are much simpler these days. A chocolate or two, maybe a flower. Mostly, it’s for the kids. It’s safe and rarely stressful. But I do see it as an opportunity to get an extra foot rub while I watch tv! (Hint Hint to my hubby if he happens to be reading this!)
Whatever your Valentine’s plans, ENJOY!
