Friday, February 12, 2010

Flashback Friday: Valentine's Day

Currently Reading: Took some time yesterday and read some more of Cross Country Chaos. And found myself traveling Memory Lane as Lesli and her characters took me through Mitchell, South Dakota; Mount Rushmore; Cody, Wyoming; western Montana (I've been to Missoula); and Yellowstone National Park. The characters are on their way to Spokane, Washington (I've only been there briefly, to visit a former pastor's church and then to only drive through to Seattle) for a Special Olympics/Nationals competition, and where I'm at now, they're on their way to Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helen's. I've only seen Rainier from a distance, so I'm hoping to read more today. I'm going to go ahead and call this a Recommended Read, even though I'm only on page 129 and chapter 19!


I've said before I have a history of bad Valentine's days. They all started out good; Mom always had our Valentine candy and cards on the kitchen table when my sis and I straggled out of our rooms. But as far as romance and the opposite sex...forget it.

1980
I still had my first boyfriend, acquired back in 1978. We saw each other every Sunday and during the week if our parents got together. This particular Valentine's Day, I was sinking further into a pit of despair, while trying to maintain a sense of normalcy. In my mind, my friends were disappearing; I couldn't vocalize what I was feeling or even why I felt that way. One innocent remark would get blown out of proportion and there was no way to stop it. Soon it was better to simply push everyone away; if I didn't care about anyone, I wouldn't accidentally hurt them. So in order to protect my boyfriend, I quit speaking to him except when necessary.

Last night, I thought back to other Valentine's Days.
-1984: I broke down and wrote my crush a letter, plus had a heart-shaped cookie delivered to him with 'Te Amo' written on it. Then I deliberately avoided him the rest of the day. Yeah, I was a coward...

-1985: My 1st college boyfriend and I had broken up, but I called him and invited him to lunch. We ended up spending the day together, but ultimately decided to stay apart.

-1986: The guy I was seeing lived two hours away; however, he sent me my first rose. With his approval, I went to a dance with another friend, who ALSO brought me a rose. A good time was had by all.

-1987: I got a phone call from the man I was seeing.

-1988: I broke up with my boyfriend, but my future husband and his bff took me out to dinner and gave me a tiny teddy bear, who I named 'Copilot', as he lay on the dashboard of my car until 2000.

-1989: My boyfriend had yellow roses delivered to my dorm room via his mom. Since I was trying unsuccessfully to dump him, I was rather upset.

So yeah, my dating life was good....until I got to this date. What about you? How was your luck in the romance department on Valentine's Day? I'll give you a hint: Mine improved slightly once I married. Next week I'll take you through the nineties.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Mine were awful during my first marriage, but my DH is Mr. Romance.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Regina Carlysle said...

Never failed that I was between guys during Valentine's Day. Not sure why that was exactly. HA.

Unknown said...

You have a great memory. I can't hardly remember any of my Valentine's Days. One I was mad at hubby that he did nothing. Another, a friend from church decorated my garage with a bunch of paper hearts. I thought that was cool. Hubby had planned to take me out for a Valentine's Day dinner tomorrow evening but I doubt we do so now because it'll be his first day home from the hospital and also because it's the only day the whole family can get together to celebrate DS2's birtthday.

I hope your Valentine's Day is happier this year.

Molly Daniels said...

LOL:) You notice these start my senior year in HS? Can't remember farther back, other than the one in '81, where I cheekily asked my crush, "You want a kiss?" He looked startled and said 'No'; then I showed him the Hershey's Kiss I had hidden in my hand! He looked relieved:)