Valentine's Day

I had always believed that Valentine’s Day was a commercially made up holiday as a money grab. Why else does a $10 bouquet of flowers cost $40 on Valentines Day. That is until I met Mike.

The story of meeting Mike is a story of being in the right place in the right time. And always celebrate Georgina’s birthday.

Georgina’s birthday is on January 14th, which in 2004, happened to be on my days off. I was living in New Westminster at the time, but I decided to come to Kamloops to be with her on her birthday. We decided to go to Montana’s with our friends Brian and Kerri to celebrate.

Kerri was going to university at the time where she met Lynn. Since Lynn is from Lillooet, she did not know anyone in Kamloops, so Kerri invited her to dinner with us. Lynn’s husband, Darren, and her kids were in town from Lillooet to visit her, so they also came along.

It was a wonderful dinner although Georgina didn’t wear the Viking Hat. I was very disappointed. We decided to go to the bar afterwards. Unfortunately, Lynn had a sore back, so she and the kids went back to where she was staying. After putting his wife into bed, Darren joined us at the bar where we played some pool and had a couple of drinks.

At some point in the evening, my dating life came up. I am not sure how or why, but I must have mentioned getting stood up on the weekend. Darren was sympathetic to my plight as a single woman. We talked further, and he found out that I lived on the Lower Mainland. You could almost see the light bulb over his head. He tells me that he has a friend in Coquitlam who is single. I thought it was interesting, but didn’t think much else of it. The rest of the night was great, as was the rest of my visit.

The following Wednesday, to my surprise, I get a MSN message from Darren. I didn’t think he would remember or actually get a hold of me. He had gotten my email address from Kerri. He was in town, and he wanted me to come out with him and some friends including Mike to play pool. I almost said no. I had only met Darren once, I didn’t know his friends and I was a single woman. However, something made me say yes.

I joined Darren and friends at the Legion. That’s when I met Mike. I wish I could say it was love at first sight, but it wasn’t. Mike was a great guy though, so we met up a few times over the next 3 weeks, always with friends around.

February 14th, 2004, was our first date alone. Mike invited me to his place for dinner. I was so nervous as I walked up to his door. The first thing I saw when his door opened, besides him, was a number of candles lit and spread around his living room and dining room. The house smelled so nice. He handed me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, and walked me to the table. The table was nicely set, with a candle in the centre. He served steak, potatoes and vegetables. That’s when I discovered he was a good cook.

After dinner, we sat in the living room and had a chocolate fondue for dessert, and listened to love songs. It was the first chocolate fondue for me and it was wonderful. Nothing better than chocolate to get to a girl's heart. We then watched the Canucks game. Not so romantic, but fun none the less.

Since then, I celebrate Valentine’s Day. I still believe it is a commercial holiday, but it is the perfect day to make sure Mike knows how much I love him. Besides, it gives me two days to celebrate our relationship – our first date and our Wedding Day.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone.