Valentine’s Day. It’s the stuff dreams are made of. Like no other day, Valentine’s Day inspires the romantic in all of us. Sure, there are those who rail against another man-made reason to go out and buy greeting cards, but deep down inside we all dream of that special someone who will shower us with Valentine’s treats and treasures.
Myself, I’m a big sissy on occasions like this. Christmas, Easter, Halloween and Valentine’s Day are, for me, days to make special note of my family and friends. This year, as in years past, we’ll be having our Valentine’s Day dinner at the house. The boys will bring their significant others. The girls will come in from Montreal to be here with us. My good friend Anna and her partner will join us as well and we’ll plan a meal filled with everyone’s favourites and lots of the requisite chocolate that seems to stand for Valentine’s Day.
While making the tentative plans for my Valentine’s dinner this year, I started thinking about all the different stories there must be around this romantic day. It occurred to me that there was a veritable gold mine of favourite memories around this most romantic day of the year. So, as I often do when I’m in search of a gamut of stories, I put it out to my friends in the JacksonCage message board community.
As always, they didn’t let me down and here follow a couple of the very special stories they shared with me. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did.
This first one is from Tamara and John:
- My very best Valentine's was 2 years ago. That was the night that John first told me he loved me. He made me cry. I had planned it to be a very special night. I cooked him a great meal of his favourite things; sweet and sour ribs, baby carrots and rice. We had been going out together for almost 5 months and I certainly wasn’t expecting anything like it. He is really very romantic so when he arrived, he turned off all the lights and lit some candles. Then he told me he was very sorry that he didn’t have a gift for me but if I would accept the fact that he loved me as a gift, he would be the happiest man alive. It was the very best gift of all. One that has lasted more than two years now, and given us a beautiful baby girl and another baby on the way.
Myra was kind enough to share two Valentine’s stories with me:
- Well I have a funny one first. When I first moved to Toronto from Newfoundland, I was feeling down and out about being single and alone in a new city, so my parents thought it would be a great idea to send me flowers to cheer me up. Needless to say, that’s not exactly how I felt. I was like, “wow, great, flowers from my parents!” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about it.
And then there’s my best Valentine’s, almost two years ago now, when Serge sealed his fate. Even though I really hate greeting card holidays and having special events connected to them, it has become our anniversary. It will be two years next month.
At the first PSP (note: PSP is Plus Size Planet, a Toronto based promotion company that runs dances and other special events for the BBW community in the GTA) Serge and I met, and chatted briefly. I recommended a book to him that I thought he would like. A few weeks later, he added me to his msn. Over the next four months, we hung out together, went out for beers, went to a local pub, went out for Amato’s (a well known Toronto pizza joint) pizza, did all the normal “dating” things. Then for the Valentine’s day PSP event, we decided to go together, as a couple, so dressing up in our Sunday finery, off we went. Up until now, we were just friends, then at one point in the evening we shared a glance, and our first kiss. And we have been together, just about every day since then. We started as friends and now he is my best friend, our home is filled with love and laughter, and whole lot of sarcasm and humor. I never knew what love meant before him, and now I am all consumed by it.
And then Laura shared this story:
- The first time I ever had a date for Valentine's Day was a couple of years ago. It was the first date with a man I had met online. He picked me up and we went to the Linden restaurant in Etobicoke and he gave me a rose. He was quite handsome and I was so nervous. We had a lovely dinner, but the best part of it was meeting Willie Nelson. At first I didn't believe it was him but then I asked the manager of the restaurant and sure enough it was for real. Turns out Willie was a good friend of the manager. He danced a little with some of the younger people and then he sang a few bars of "My Funny Valentine" to me and kissed my hand. I was speechless!!! I felt so special that night and continued to date that man for more five months. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us, but it did give me one of my fondest memories!
There you have it dear readers!!!
How will you make YOUR Valentine’s Day special??? I invite you to share your most memorable Valentine’s with us too.
TTFN!!!