Aside from the bumble bee I just saw outside which I think must've been born premature, I really have nothing better to talk about today than Valentine's Day. Sorry.
This is the most single I have been on Valentine's Day since I was fourteen.
In 1996, I got a tape of The Association from BoyfriendFromHighSchool. I still have it. I can't remember what, if anything, I got him. I am guessing a cd that he wanted. He usually instructed me as to what to buy for him. We went to a "mixer" for my high school. As I recall, NoyBoyAnymore was dating Emilieeeeee at the time, and she threatened to beat me up. I want to say she had a broken hand at the time from punching a window. She was quite an interesting person. BoyfriendFromHighSchool and she got along very well. BoyfriendFromHighSchool hated dances and was moping while I ran off and danced with my friends. Emileeeeee didn't approve, and thus she was going to kick my ass. Whatever.
In 1997, hmm... I know I was with both NotBoyAnymore and BoyfriendFromHighSchool at the time. I was also pledging. I cannot remember at all whatsoever what might have even transpired on that particular day. Seriously, I have no idea what either of them gave me, or how I managed to swing two Valentine's Days. Oops. No, wait, I remember something... I couldn't get home, so I mailed BoyfriendFromHighSchool this Hallowe'en box with random candy or something in it and a note with fake miniature carnations on it. I remember that the main thing from that was "Don't eat the candy hearts". Cause he had told me how he loved candy hearts, so I cavered a bunch in clear nail polish and maybe glued them to the note? It turned out that he mostly like eating the hearts, not admiring them.
In 1998, I was just with NotBoyAnymore. I think. BoyfriendFromHighSchool might have still been in the picture then. I'm not sure. Okay, I'm pretty sure BoyfriendFromHighSchool was still in the picture, but I can't for the life of me remember anything about Valentine's Day with him. I swear, everyone must think that that whole relationship meant nothing to me. It was really quite the opposite. Anyway, that's a whole different entry.
Okay, so I have remembered something from BoyfriendFromHighSchool. In keeping with the candy hearts theme from the year before, he gave me a black and white photo of candy hearts spilled on the floor. I still have the photo. It was on the wall in my bedroom at my mother's until I moved out. It's still packed from the last move now.
NotBoyAnymore was pledging then, and he built a bed in his new room at the frat house for me. In hindsight, I think that was an attempt to get me to have sex with him. I hated his waterbed and refused to sleep in it. He also gave me a cute stuffed ladybug, it is on top of my moniter at home. That was cool cause ladybugs were the unofficial symbol of my chapter of my sorority. Oh, and we had a picnic at the overlook at Devou Park in Covington. It would have been really cool, except that it was February and I wore a sleeveless dress and a sweater, and it was nightt ime and really, really, cold outside. I don't think we even ate.
In 1999, I got lavalierred for Valentine's Day. I am absolutely certain that I was only with NotBoyAnymore then. Okay, I have this sinking suspicion that BoyfriendFromHighSchool was still in the picture, but I think perhaps we just wished each other a Happy Valentine's Day by phone. He was waaay in the backround at that point. Really.
I spent the weekend at NotBoyAnymore's apartment that weekend. I am ridiculously impatient, so we exchanged gifts the night before. He gave me a globe candle. It matched my bedroom at home. I had actually seen it in the store and wanted it. Then, my grandmother's dishwasher broke. My grandmother had died the November before, and NotBoyAnymore got the dishwasher. So, I kinda lost it, cause I had been expecting a lavalier, I gave him a lavalier, and now my dead grandmother's dishwasher was broken. I think perhaps he said something about not being able to fix it and that's what sent me over the edge.
Anyway, I flipped out sobbing huge ugly tears. Crying my eyes out. I couldn't handle it. That dishwasher had been part of my life for my entire life and most of my mother's life and I just was not okay with it being broken. Seriously, mostly it was about the dishwasher.
So, he says we're leaving. It's midnight or later. I get in his truck and he asks me where I want to go. I was still hysterically crying at this point. (I cried for like two hours.) I tell him I want to go home to my mom cause her mom is dead and now so is the dishwasher. Something along those lines. We drive along like we're actually going to my mother's house.
Then, suddenly, we weren't going to my mom's anymore. Like a curious toddler, I calmed down a bit. I wanted to know where he was taking me. He wouldn't say. So I think I cried some more.
Eventually we ended up at Eden Park. He told me to get out of the truck. I hate to admit this, but I thought he was going to leave me there. I got out of the truck, but would not take my hand off of the door. Again, it was nighttime in February and fucking cold.
So, he pulls out some non alcoholic champagne (I don't know why no alcohol... I mean, we were underage, but his roommate wasn't. He could have gotten real champagne), and two glasses. They may have been plastic. Anyway, I wanted nothing to do with it. He didn't realize at the time that I hate grapes and all things made from grapes. I was cold and upset and I was too tired and I think I still wanted to go home at that point. To my mother. Who didn't know I wasn't at school. And just waltz in in the middle of the night.
He relented, we got back into the truck and he threw the lavalier at me.
I am sure it would have been a really great night, the next night, had I not flipped out. He sped it up a night purely to try to get me to stop crying. It worked. I was floored. I think I apologized all the way back to his house.
So, 2000, I was with Waste. My uncle died like on the twelvth or thirteenth. So, Valentine's Day was sorta lost to me. I was baking him cookies when I got the news. I gave him cookies. We went to Skyline and split the bill. I think maybe later he took me out to dinner.
2001 still with Waste. He cleaned our bedroom for me. Except that it wasn't completely clean when he stopped. So, I finished it. I am 95% certain that evening also ended in tears on my part. I think I had paid the whole rent that month so he didn't get a present besides a home.
2002 - Waste is leaving and I consider that my Valentine's Day gift. I inadvertently dressed in all black today. Motivated mostly by no clean clothes. I am sure people think I am grumpy cause I am single. Oops.
So, there are the tales of Valentine's Day past. Don't eat the candy hearts!! Come to think of it, I can't recall seeing any conversation hearts this year in the stores. I think cause I haven't been in the stores much...