Valetine's Day, Remembered

I remember that Valentine's Day like it was yesterday...

The snow filled the streets and the medical bills emptied my pockets. Luckily, I had the snow to fill them again. I had spent the last 6 months debating whether or not I should make a big deal out of Valentine's Day. Should I use it as a chance to declare my true feelings? Should I be bold? Should I dress up? Should I pay for the meal, if there is one? As I walked down the street, I raised my arms and shouted "YES!!!!" to all, but thinking "we'll see" to the last.

Earlier that morning, I laid my navy blue suit on the bed. Fresh white shirt hanging on the door. As I got dressed, or spiffed, I remembered that my dress shoes were gone. Don't want to get into it, but they were gone for good. The only other shoes I had were my Nikes. Nikes with a suit? I pride myself on being GQ, so no. No big deal, lots of people wear jeans with a suit coat and tie. Well, my jeans were dirty so I threw on my sweat pants, in the interest of time. Plus, they're red and it was Valentine's Day...you do the math. I couldn't find the tie I wanted, so I decided to forgo wearing one, altogether. Open collar - a sexy dude staple. It also meant I wouldn't have to worry about irritating what my doctor called a "nonhuman-like" rash on my neck. Whew. Too bad I already took a handful of Advil in preparation. Airing out that rash felt so good, I decided the heck with the shirt.

I arrived at her house, but no one answered when I knocked. Was she home? Did she still live there? After all, I hadn't talked to her in 6 months, not wanting to do anything to screw up Valentine's Day. Since it was only 4:15a.m., I decided to hang out in her front yard. I got a fire going so my hands wouldn't be cold, should she want to hold one or both of them. Yes, it would have been better to start the fire away from her house, but the only wood I could find was from her bushes, and if you think I was going to risk getting dirty by ripping out some bushes - you're crazy. I had already cut my finger on them, just trying to grab a small branch. It was as if Cupid himself was showing me that this girl was truly the one burning in my heart when the house went up in flames like that. Total goose bumps.

I knew that time was of the essence, especially since I wanted to spend some one on one time with her and neighbors were already starting to come outside. Talk about a street full of early-risers! I decided to leave her a note telling her "Happy Valentine's Day!", but I remembered I left my red marker in my suit pants. There would be no point in any of it if I couldn't write in red ink - I mean, at what point are you just turning Valentine's Day into any other day?! But wait - my finger! The cut on my finger was still bleeding pretty steadily. I rushed to a large spot of snow-covered lawn and started to write my sweet note, using my new-found red ink (wink again to Cupid!) and nature's own snow. Cursing my lack of hemophilia, I realized there wasn't going to be enough blood to write the whole note. I quickly focused on the point, that I wish her a happy Valentine's Day. Quickly I wrote "ENJOY YOUR V.D." and ran off, to go wait by the phone. The call never came. It's my fault - I should have worn my black suit coat.