Valentine’s Day, the Hallmark holiday that has us seeing red and pink for months and over paying for everything from flowers to dinner if they’re purchased on the 14th day of February.
I’m not a fan of this day of forced love. I think if you really care about someone you should be showing them and telling them everyday and not making some grand gesture one day of the year just because it’s Valentines Day.
I did however celebrate Valentine’s Day once and it wasn’t that bad.
It all started with what was supposed to be a one night stand, don’t judge me we all do it, the guy was shall we say a “gift from a friend” on an evening when I was in particular need of male companionship. My bestie knew someone who was single and thought we’d hit it off so he set it up and well the one night stand turned into something more serious for a bit and we happened to be together on Valentine’s Day.
I decided maybe it wasn’t such a bad made up holiday after all and planned a romantic dinner for the two of us at my place. I actually cooked, the one fancy meal I knew how and had wine and candle light the whole nine yards.
By the time he arrived I was definitely feeling the effects of the wine I had been cooking with- it was a splash in the dish and a glass for me sort of scenario. He was glad I had had a couple of drinks because he had concerns about my reaction to the gift he had brought but guys, it was the best gift ever.
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Let me give you some background, I used to be super weird about cleaning products and cleanliness in general. I loved the smell of certain things like for example bleach, pine sol, Mr. Clean etc. I still enjoy a good clean scent but I’ve calmed down a bit over the years.
I also had a cat that was super, shall we say fluffy? Who liked to use the toilet seat to launch her watermelon like body into the bathtub. Over time the screws of her launchpad loosened and eventually the whole damn toilet seat came off and it was the last thing on my list to repair- the guy thought it should be fast tracked and fixed sooner rather than later.
So that brings me to the gift. He brought me a giant bottle of bleach and a new toilet seat.
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Be still my beating heart, this man actually listened and knew me well enough to get the absolute perfect gift. He even installed the new seat and everything while I finished making dinner.
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I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire night. It may not seem very romantical and Valentine’s- y to you but I was smitten that night. So much so that I allowed him to spend the night and even made him breakfast in bed the next morning. It was a super big deal for me to cook twice in the same 24 hour period and actually have the food stuffs on hand to cook two separate meals but I managed to do it.
I did also almost stab him when he snuck up on me in the kitchen that morning but luckily he had lightening fast reflexes and no one got hurt. He did learn not to sneak up on me in the kitchen though.
That was the last time I actually celebrated the big V-Day many, many years ago. That relationship obviously didn’t work out romantically but we are actually still friends today so all in all not a horrible experience and a pretty fantastic memory of a good Valentine’s Day.
We both still tell the tale of the Valentine’s Day when bleach and a toilet seat were a good idea.
