Oh, What a Night

I’m not one of those girls who hates Valentine’s Day when she’s single and spends the days leading up to it dropping hints about what she wants when she’s in a relationship. I have actually always enjoyed Valentine’s Day, not because I’ve always had a sickeningly sweet boyfriend who went all out for the holiday (although I do have a pretty amazing valentine this year), but because my mama always made it a special day. Every February 14^th my brothers and I would wake up to red and pink treats and a card that let us know just how special we, her valentines, were to our mom. So even if I wasn’t going to get candy from my crush, I knew I could count on Mom to supply me with enough sugar and sugary words to get me through the day.

Valentine’s Day 2011 was my most memorable Valentine’s Day by far, though. I wasn’t sure what to expect because my guy and I have only been dating about four and a half months. We’re obviously not at the jewelry stage (ahem, Shawna and Laura), and I didn’t have any other V-Days to compare this one to. So why, you ask, was this Valentine’s Day so remarkable? Because my sweetheart sent me roses at work. 

Now you might think, What’s so special about roses on Valentine’s Day? Well, these roses were noteworthy because they’re the first flowers I’ve ever gotten from a significant other. Yes, I’ve had other boyfriends, but none of them ever bothered to send me the classic roses on The Day of Love.

Now, I’ve never been good at picking out gifts for guys, other than my brothers. (Give ’em cash, and they’ll love you forever.) But I had no idea what to get Randel for our first Valentine’s Day. Luckily, he helped me out a few days before The Big Day, by way of this text message:

Randel: You know what sounds yummy right now?

Me: What? Ice cream? (Because that’s my answer to everything.)

Randel: A heart shaped box of valentine chocolates.

Bingo, I thought. I’ll get him a card and chocolates and call it good. I’m not sure if chocolates are a typical V-Day gift for guys, but mine loved it. He ate them all in one night. Before you accuse me of being a totally lame girlfriend, though, I didn’t stop there. We’ve heard forever that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so when I found out Randel was getting off work early Monday and would get to spend the evening with me, I decided we’d do dinner and a movie at my place. On the menu: chicken and rice and steamed broccoli. Chicken and rice is, like, the easiest dish to make, and Randel loves his chicken, so I figured it was a win-win situation. I was right. Randel cleaned his plate and even complimented me on the broccoli. (I usually steam it too long, so this was pretty high praise in my eyes.)

After dinner we settled down (as much as you can “settle down” with Deuce jumping all over you) to watch Date Night. Red Box was pretty wiped out by the time we got there, and this was one of the only movies left neither of us had seen and were both at least mildly interested in. I later found out we could have gotten a free rental by using the coupon code “Be Mine” (which is probably why the selection was pretty lacking). Too bad Shawna didn’t tell me until this morning… But Red Box movies are only a dollar, so I’ll forgive her this time. But I figured Date Night was a pretty fitting film for our Valentine’s evening. We didn’t want anything too sappy (think movies based on Nicholas Sparks books), and I had heard Date Night was pretty funny (you can’t go wrong with Tina Fey and Steve Carell), so we thought this would be a safe choice. I can’t say it was as hilarious as I thought it would be, but I did laugh out loud (for a good minute or so) a few times.

So V-Day 2011 was a success—I consumed an unhealthy amount of chocolate, literally got to smell the roses, and spent the evening with a pretty wonderful guy. So no, I don’t hate Valentine’s Day. Not in the least.