Valentines Day is here yet again. February 14th, the day of the year that PDA runs rampant, Chocolate sales sky rocket, restaurants fill with love struck couples and Walmart sells millions of roses that die in under 12 hours.
Valentines Day and I have a long history together. In the 20 years that I've been around it has yet to impress me. In fact I'm pretty sure February 14th hates me.
Valentines day brings only jiggle for my belly and extra pudgey pounds.
I'll start at the beginning.
Valentines Day and I have a long history together. In the 20 years that I've been around it has yet to impress me. In fact I'm pretty sure February 14th hates me.
Valentines day brings only jiggle for my belly and extra pudgey pounds.
I'll start at the beginning.
First Grade; Littleton Academy Charter School
Sheldon was the cutest boy in my class and the entire female population of the first grade had a crush on him. He had adorable blonde hair, was always picked first in P.E., towered over even third graders and (here's the best part) sat right next to me.
Sheldon was the cutest boy in my class and the entire female population of the first grade had a crush on him. He had adorable blonde hair, was always picked first in P.E., towered over even third graders and (here's the best part) sat right next to me.
I loved him.
I had picked SkyDancer valentines that year, my brother picked Batman. (which I thought was stupid because batman has nothing to do with love and that's what V-day is all about) While I was addressing my cards and choosing just the right saying for all of my first grade peers I had a brilliant idea; I would confess my undying love for Sheldon via Valentine. First, I attached two boxes of nerds to Sheldon's skydancer valentine. I thought about it some more and decided that just wasn't enough of a manifestation. No, my love needed a real expression of sentiment yet needed to remain anonymous - that's when my plot became even more genius.
In order to execute my plan I would need a Valentine that couldn't be traced back to me, I planned to make my own giant heart with all my extra candy taped to it. Unfortunately I couldn't find any giant sheets of construction paper and I wasn't allowed to use scissors without supervision, so I improvised and stole a batman valentine from my brother. In my neatest handwriting I wrote
"I Love You, Please Kiss Me"
right next to his name and signed it "your secret admirer".
"I Love You, Please Kiss Me"
right next to his name and signed it "your secret admirer".
The next day in class I snuck the special valentine into Sheldon's Valentine box when no one was looking.
After we had distributed cards I waited patiently as everyone dumped out their valentines, keeping my eye on Sheldon, just waiting for him to find my confession.
He found it. Unfortunately so did the rest of class.
A manhunt immediately ensued for whoever had the batman valentines. I smirked as the class ransacked their valentines looking for a batman cards, I knew I was safe since all of the cards with my name on them were Sky Dancer, not Batman.
Then the class found Batman cards and it all went downhill from there. Shannon, the class tomboy who had actually taken off her shirt at recess in an attempt to be a boy, was also Batman's biggest fan. As a result of peer pressure and the free-loving atmosphere in Miss Collin's classroom, Sheldon decided to grant my Valentines wish.
Then the class found Batman cards and it all went downhill from there. Shannon, the class tomboy who had actually taken off her shirt at recess in an attempt to be a boy, was also Batman's biggest fan. As a result of peer pressure and the free-loving atmosphere in Miss Collin's classroom, Sheldon decided to grant my Valentines wish.
Only he thought it was Shannon's wish, so she got my v-day kiss and I got to spend my valentines recess eating all of my V-day Candy in the slide.
She didn't even like it.
Second Grade- 1998
After my heart was shattered in '97 I had forsaken love. Sheldon had moved away at the end of the school year and I had convinced myself I was never getting married. Boys had cooties. Luckily most of the 8 year old boys shared my aversion to the opposite sex.
Not Wade.
Wade was the red-headed weirdo that still ate mud and had worms for friends. He always got behind me when we lined up for recess. I did not love Wade.
She didn't even like it.
Second Grade- 1998
After my heart was shattered in '97 I had forsaken love. Sheldon had moved away at the end of the school year and I had convinced myself I was never getting married. Boys had cooties. Luckily most of the 8 year old boys shared my aversion to the opposite sex.
Not Wade.
Wade was the red-headed weirdo that still ate mud and had worms for friends. He always got behind me when we lined up for recess. I did not love Wade.
On Valentines Day Wade was behind me in line once again. He tapped me on the shoulder.
I ignored him.
So he tapped me again.
\He didn't answer so I turned around and BAM! He snuck a smooch right on my cheek.
What happened next was all his own fault.
I punched Wade in the face.
He got a black eye and got to call his mom to come get him, I got sent to the Principal's office and indoor recess for two weeks.
I ate all of the candies in the candy Jar while I watched the other kids play.
Every day.
I decided to be a great friend that year and, while I had sworn off love after my scarring experiences, I could celebrate Valentines with my girls. Since my best friend Dana and I didn't have "boyfriends" to buy us cheesy gifts like all of our other friends did, I decided I'd provide the cheesy gift. I bought a bear that said "hug me" on a heart for my BF Dana, because i'm a sweetheart like that.
Problem, she saw me putting it in my locker that Valentines morning.
Did I mention that I had a crush on Adam? I had a crush on Adam in the sixth grade. Logically it made sense that the bear was for him, and apparently it made sense to Dana too because when she found the bear in my locker at lunch still she decided to help my love life along. She put the bear in Adam's locker.
Adam now had the bear.
And all of our friends knew I had "given" Adam the Valentines Bear.
Adam told me that he just "wanted to be friends" and didn't think "going out" was a good idea until we were older. He did this with a horde of preteen boys behind him and in front of 15 of my closest girl friends.
I avoided Adam for the next month and my ego never recovered. Especially not after my mom made rocky road brownies to cheer me up and I ate 3/4 of the pan in twenty minutes.
Eighth grade:
I had an older boyfriend. He was in ninth grade. We held hands in the halls and hugged every day before getting on our respective buses.
Valentines Day he decorated my room with rose petals and Hershies kisses.
He gave me a heart bracelet and a teddy bear and I gave him a t-shirt and some chocolates. At last I had my perfect Valentines Day. It stayed perfect for a total of thirty minutes until I called him to tell him thank you and another girl, one of my friends, answered the phone.
Chelsea also got a heart bracelet that year. Mine ended up inthe field behind my house February 15th. The two bags of kisses he scattered all over my floor, however, ended up in my belly.
I eat my feelings.
Ninth Grade
Boy gave me a hamburger and a milkshake. That he picked up on his way to my house at 11:45 P.M.
He also wrote a poem: It goes like this -
"What is a BIG MAC like you doing SHAKING with a SMALL FRY like me?"
Naturally I ate them and my sadness.
Tenth grade: I'm 80% sure I was single. My friends were not.
Solution: Ice cream
Eleventh grade:
Solution: Even more Ice Cream
Senior Year:
I had a great boy, a thoughtful and specific gift wrapped and ready for him to open and high hopes of the perfect Valentines Day, and an even better night. (wink wink)
I didn't see him at school that day, but kept my phone close by just waiting for the happy V-day text message.
When he didn't make contact by 4:00 I texted him.
He didn't respond.
The perfect boy had forgotten all about Valentines day and went up to a cabin without service for three days.
Heart = Broken
Stomach = Fully Functional ad Filling up.
I ate LOTS of Ice Cream that year.
2009 - Freshman year of college
The boy from the year before left on a sabbatical to Canada and I was so anti-male that I would purposely be mean to them in class. Nonetheless, my friend needed a wingman for V-day with a new boy and I, being the self sacrificing saint that I am, agreed to tag along.
My date had the longest bowl cut hair I've ever seen. It looked horrid.
They made us dinner, which consisted of overcooked spaghetti smothered in four cans of ragu and some pre-sliced french bread from Walmart.
they told us "they" were dessert.
Gag.
They then forced me to watch a movie.
They chose a scary movie, on Valentines day. Most likely this was a ploy to facilitate close seating arrangement and frightened clinging.
It certainly worked, I clung to the edge of the love seat they made me share with hippy hair and he vehemently tried to pull me onto his lap.
My friend owed me big time for tackling this grenade. (not that I tackled him, in fact I stayed as far away as the Loveseat permitted)
She paid up in the form of her famously fattening cookies. That I stole from her house.
I devoured 15 cookies just on the way home.
And we stopped for Cadbury eggs. Because I love those.
I doubt I would have fit on the Loveseat post-date.
The suggested caloric intake for someone my height and weight is somehwere around 1700 calories per day. On Valentines day I unfailingly quadruple that suggestion and then sneak a few hundred more.
Valentines day hates me.
After lots and lots of days at the gym the V-day Weight will slowly unhinge itselft from my love-handles, but it always returns the following year with a vengeance.
Since then I've barricaded myself in my house every February 14th, where I happen to be now, and I've decided to permanently re-name Valentines Day.
I now refer to February 14th as the National Acquisition of Chub day. Because that's what we do, we acquire Chub.
No matter how your Valentines Day ends up, you'll be packing on at least a few extra pounds this year. You may not be guzzling four cartons of ice cream, which I may or may not have done last year.... but you're sampling those chocolates he gave you or trying to get your money's worth out of the $50 dinner he just paid for.
So if my pants look a little tighter tomorrow, my curves are extra curvy or my cheeks look even more bloated than usual.... you know why.
Valentines Day hates me.
