A Pathetic Valentine's Day Story or Two

I didn't date much in high school. And in college I dated a lot, but my relationships were never very long or serious. Needless to say, I used to always say that I wanted to take a pair of scissors and literally cut Valentine's Day right out of the calendar.

So here are two stories that are kind of pathetic that might hopefully give you a good laugh.

So it was my junior year of college. I had a friend who I'd always had a bit of a crush on. Let's call him Chuck. Met him my first semester. While the conversation was never such that it just flowed freely, I still thought he was very cute and that was that. From time to time we did stuff together. It was one of those where I wasn't really sure WHAT we were. After a while I came to realize we were clearly only friends because he'd never made a move on me after all that time. And I was okay with that, since I knew we didn't completely click.

So 2 1/2 years later, I hadn't seen him in a while and we had it set up that I was going to have him over to my apartment for dinner. A nice friend dinner. Well would you believe it - about 3 days before our dinner was planned, I was out with some friends and ran into him. I don't know how it happened but we ended up kissing. It was fun I'll admit. I don't know why he kissed me but I wasn't going to complain. I knew it wasn't going anywhere but I was still going to enjoy the moment.

It was the next day that I realized we still had dinner set up, and what did that mean? And oh no! That dinner we set up, it was planned for Valentine's Day! Neither of us had thought about it when we set it up. I really was thinking how awkward this was but wasn't sure what to do about it, if anything. Well Chuck called later that day and didn't beat around the bush. He very sweetly cancelled dinner and explained that he thought with it being Valentine's Day and all that it wasn't a good idea.

Now, on the one hand, that is rather pathetic sounding if you are in my shoes. But in reality, he was right. And he's probably one of the few men in the world that could just be upfront and honest instead of making up excuses. I guess that really was the sign of a good friend.

Funny though - Valentine's day came and I had no plans. I was mostly fine with it, though I felt a tad bit like a loser, when lo and behold, that evening a very recent ex-boyfriend showed up at my door just to see how my Valentine's Day was. I really don't know why he came by but it was a sweet gesture. Maybe he was having an uneventful or maybe even disappointing day as well. He even stayed and watched a movie with me and my roommates. It was nice to know someone thought of me.

So that is story #1. Story #2:

The next year actually. I was now in a long-distance relationship with a guy from West Point who I also had an on and off thing with for years, though this time it had gotten serious. We'll call him JD. So on Valentine's Day he called to tell me he had a bit of bad news. He had sent me something for Valentine's Day, but realized he had mixed up the To and From addresses on the label as he had just received in the mail MY Valentine's Day gift! Kind of funny but it still kind of sucked. I did finally get it about a week later. I chose to believe him though it's entirely impossible he dropped the ball and made up the story. Very plausible given that he's a pathological liar. No kidding.

I have to say though - I never had a bad Valentine's Day again though. Was in another long-distance relationship the following year (long story about these long-distance relationships), and after that one I was dating my husband.

One great thing about getting married the day before Valentine's Day is I've had nothing but great Valentine's Day weekends ever since! I really get spoiled since my husband knows it's a double-whammy. And one great thing about BEING married is being able to laugh at all my pathetic Valentine's stories, or lack thereof, of the past.

Dare to share any of your sad stories?