For some reason, we've had some troubles spending this day together consistently.
In 2005, our first Valentine's Day together as a couple, I was working in Boston for the week on a client. We celebrated together when I got home. I have no clue what we did or where we went. Since we were both still living at home, I'm going to say we went out to dinner and hung out at someone's house that night.
In 2006, I was again working in Boston for the week. It's like I couldn't get away from that city on that day! Since I didn't think it was that big of a deal, I said that we could celebrate when I got home. Like the previous year. But Paul had other ideas. I never left him my itinerary (who tells someone the minutia of their trip?) so he had no idea where I was or anything of that sort. So he called the office and asked the assistant where I was staying. Since we generally didn't tell anyone where we were staying, she said she didn't know and had no clue that I was even *in* Boston. (Yep, I was really great about letting people know where I was.) Paul did know that I was with this guy named Ben, so he asked the assistant for his cell number.
He then called Ben and left him a voicemail which went something like this: "Hi Ben, it's Paul, Sarah's boyfriend. Don't tell her it's me on the phone because I need your help sending her flowers for Valentine's Day." At this point, Ben was listening to his voicemail while sitting 2 inches from me (oh..the days of being squished into a tiny cube with someone else...). I remember him saying "why is your" oh and leaving abruptly. Since I had no idea what he was talking about, I kept doing work.
Fast forward to Ben and I leaving work and heading back to the hotel. We had decided to head to Cheer's for dinner and we'd meet in the lobby at 7 to head over. I meandered up to my room and changed. There was a dozen roses in my room and I thought it was really nice that the hotel gave them to me for Valentine's Day. (We were staying at a fancy hotel.) I headed downstairs to the lobby and met Ben. Here's how that conversation went:
Ben: So...what's up
Me: Ready for dinner?
Ben: Anything new?
Me: Oh yeah...did the hotel leave you flowers for Valentine's Day, too. The ones in my room are really nice
Ben: Those aren't from the hotel
Me: Oh? OH
Ben: laughs
Me: I'll be right back...
So yes, my amazing boyfriend tracked me down in another state to send flowers and I thought the hotel did it. Yikes. I did thank him profusely (and Ben for helping). And then? I went to Cheer's and watched Olympic Curling on tv with Ben for dinner.
In 2007, Valentine's Day was spent apart, again. This time Paul was out of town in the Ukraine. But I did get a special delivery that morning.
Valentine's Day 2008 was the first one we were going to spend together. And we were super excited about it. Unfortunately, I was working on the job from hell and didn't have a whole lot of free time. So I made a point to get out of work at a decent time, so that we could spend the day together. And since I thought I would have a regular schedule, Paul and I had signed up for a ballroom dance class. By the time the day of love rolled around, I was working 80+ hour weeks and barely making it to dance. But since it was a special day, I told work I was leaving early and heading home.
Unfortunately, I got home earlier than Paul had anticipated and I walked in mid-surprise setting up. He had put a whole bunch of rose petals on the floor, lit candles all around, and had my present on the table. It was so romantic and amazing. Of course, me walking in the house early made him a little sad, but I loved it. And my present? A home-made, hand carved cutting board and a huge package of string cheese. He knows the way to my heart!
I was elated to find out that we would be spending the 2009 day together. It was actually a really great day - we spent it together looking for a new couch for me. (That I never ended up getting because we couldn't agree.) Paul got me this beautiful necklace and I wear it all the time. It was really a great day.
Due to our current proximity problem, I knew that we wouldn't be spending Valentine's Day together. I was a little bummed, but my philosophy is that we should love each other every day, not just on Valentine's Day. And since we had Pre-Cana on the 20th, I figured we could celebrate then.
I didn't really want to pretend the day didn't exist at all. So I came up with the idea to make Valentine candy for my co-workers. They turned out pretty great!
This is me working on taking more artsy pictures of my stuff. I think I did a pretty good job.
Even Harry, my snowman, got in on the Valentine's Day action!
My mom kind of felt bad for me and asked if I wanted to spend the 14th with her and my dad. She said she would make a special dinner and we'd celebrate, just the 3 of us. I said that sounded great. But the Tuesday before, she said that she wanted to change the day of the party to Saturday and order pizza with Grandpa. I mean that sounded good, but I was like, seriously you don't want to spend the day with me? Nice.
So that Saturday, I decided to go shopping and thought I'd bring over some pink champagne for dinner. To celebrate the day. (Mainly because I think pink champagne goes with everything!)
When I got to mom's house, she was rushing around cleaning and said that my aunt and uncle were going to be joining us for dinner so we could talk about some shower stuff. I thought that sounded great and had a million things that I wanted to talk about. About 20 minutes later, there was a knock at the door and my mom asked me to get the door. So I opened it to this face:
I couldn't get over the fact that he was there. Especially because we had talked about him not coming home for Valentine's Day because it was silly to come home two weekends in a row. So for about an hour, I was in a complete daze just not believing that he was really there. And to compound matters, his parents came back from Pittsburgh early just to pick him up at the airport. (Emily had surgery that previous day and I knew they were down in Pittsburgh taking care of her all weekend!)
Of course, I was really confused when mom informed me that my aunt and uncle weren't coming over and it was a distraction so I wouldn't really who was going to be there.
After my shock wore off, I was so happy and excited to see Paul again. And to make it even more special, he had picked up my ring and re-proposed to me! So I was so happy to have Paul *and* my engagement ring back!!!
Since we had the Valentine's Day to spend with each other...we did a little bit of hanging out.
And made a yummy dinner with dessert!
So after thinking that 2010 was going to be the same as the other years, it turns out that it was the best Valentine's Day ever.
Now that it's the day after the holiday, I'm sad that he's gone to Baltimore for a meeting, but so happy and so loved that he stopped in to visit for a few days. It was just what I needed!
Happy Valentine's Day Paul. Love you!
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