Thursday, February 14, 2008

Valentine Shmalentine.

Valentine's day has never been a big deal for me. I've always just been kind of...indifferent, if you will. Everyone blames Hallmark on the fact that it is such a huge/overrated "holiday", however, I blame the elementary school teachers. THEY were the ones who instilled in us that we should be all loving and wear pink and red from head to toe. THEY were the ones who threw huge parties every year, equipped with ice cream sundaes, Valentine's Bingo, and little boxes decorated especially for us, just to hold our valentines. I know Hallmark is somewhat to blame. But really, don't you think it's the teachers' faults?

Anywho. My first real Valentine was Erick "Taso" Koumoutzis. We went to school together and had been "talking" or whatever you do in 8th grade. On the special day, I went up to him in the cafeteria, handed him my Sponge Bob valentine, and then he asked me. Those few words that mean so much. "Will you go out with me?". I've never understood that. Where do you go in middle school? No where. The movies to makeout in the back row. Or you just meet up at friends' houses. Whatever. Needless to say, our relationship didn't work out. After a week of bliss, our relationship started to go downhill and he broke up with me in a really meaningful, heartfelt letter. "I'm Dumping You. - Taso" Well, now we always joke around about being Valentines every year. This year I got a message saying "Happy 6th Year Anniversary". Haha. I love the kid.

Well, other than that, I've only have one other "real" valentine. Last year, my significant other (or as Wasko and I call it "sig oth"), was 8,228 miles away. Even though he was located in the southernmost tip of Africa, he still managed to make my day on the 14th. I woke up at 6am to have an online "date", as we called it. Pretty much every morning I woke up before the sun just to talk to him, due to the horrible 7 hour time difference. Anywho, I got a knock on my door around 6:15, and Kait was there. Why is Kait at my door so early in the morning? Because he had made me a CD before he left, and had hired Kait as delivery girl. The cd was really cute. First of all, I gave him a CD with almost the exact same playlist. Great minds think alike, eh? Well, before he left, we had been laying on his bed (ON, not IN), jamming to some tunes. We were sharing headphones, and just began choosing songs for each other. For example, I chose "Swallowed in the Sea" by Coldplay, and he chose "About You" by the Chemistry...etc etc. Well, without my knowledge, he had written down the playlist and made it into a CD. He also added his own little ditty at the beginning that he had written himself. On the CD, he drew a picture of the US, and then one of Africa. He also drew a tiny little heart in Ohio, and a tiny little heart at the tip of South Africa, and drew little dots connecting the two. He also colored it in, complete with fish swimming in the ocean between the two. Awesome. Pretty much the cutest thing anyone has ever done for me.

Well. Here I am, a year later. After some huge curve-balls were thrown at me these past few months, here I am, unexpectedly single, and I am still not hating the day. Yes, I got a tidge sad when I saw a girl carrying her bouquet of roses across campus. Put those away! And I'd definitely rather be with him, but, I am going to make the best of it. I am going out to eat tonight with some of my best girl friends, Kait, Megs, Anna, Allison, and Kirstin. We are hittin' up Texas Roadhouse! I am excited because this is exactly what we did last year (obviously I was alone then for different reasons). It is hard knowing that I was looking forward to spending this Valentine's with him, but I know I can't dwell on that. I will NOT allow myself to mope, especially today. I have my friends, my family, and AMAZING food, and that's really all you need, right?

Well. Happy 14 of February to all of you.

No comments: