The Valentine's Day
Most of you probably know that I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day. Significant periods of my life have been spent single, and Valentine's Day always functions as a painful reminder of my status; really, I have to struggle to remember the last time I actually had a nice Valentine's day. So, as I approached the 2008 Valentine's leap year, I had absolutely no expectations that the day would be anything other than, well, another bad Valentine's Day.
This year turned out to be a bit different.
For the first time since I was a senior in high school and a (male) friend sent me a flower-gram, I received Valentine’s Day flowers. The bouquet actually arrived the day before, when I happened to be working at home. Thank you Pete, my very amazing friend.
Tracy and I carpooled together on THE day. As we reached the 2nd floor landing of our office, we were stunned by the sight of many of the men on our team gathered in the copier nook/calorie corner, bubbling enthusiastically amongst themselves. They saw us, “there’s Tracy and Schelley!" We stopped, stunned…and made our way through the gauntlet. I tried to ignore the “Happy Valentine’s Day!” greetings, and then realized that something else was going on.
Mid-afternoon the day before, the Planner guys decided to surprise the girls on our team with breakfast. And by breakfast, I don't mean donuts, but freshly cooked pancakes, topped with syrup, whipped cream and strawberry hearts, delicious croissants and juice. On a tray. With Valentine’s candy. Wow. Double Wow.
Later than evening, after yoga and watching some couple fight on the street while driving home, I hit the anti-Valentine’s Day party at Neumos. It was a nice reminder that compared to others’ heartbreaks, mine could be so much worse. We, as humans, can be excessively cruel to one another. Then, a very excellent late night drink and hamburger at Quinn’s (more about Quinn’s later).
For the first time in a long, long time, I had a very nice Valentine’s Day.