Happy Valentine's Day

Okay, this is for Ashley, because she really knows how to talk me into stuff. What kind of world are we coming to? A double blog day! David will think I wasted my whole day. Oh, except I cleaned the bathroom and weeded in the garden and did some laundry too.

He walked me to the front gate of my house and gave me a very sweet peck on the mouth to follow the few minutes we had spent in the car. I fairly floated inside the house and fell into bed, hoping for dreams as sweet as my current reality.

We talked on the phone the next day, and the next, and every day that week. By Wednesday, he had asked me out again for Saturday night. I was in heaven and thought that I couldn’t have written myself a better love story. The timing was perfect. We would have been dating for two whole weeks by the time Valentine’s Day rolled around, just long enough to make things not awkward. Or so I thought.

Valentine’s day was on a Thursday and come Monday, I still hadn’t been asked out. There was a big dance, of course, but I was hoping for something a little more private. Tuesday, still no phone call. This was weird, because before this week, I think we had talked on the phone every day since our first date. I called Mary and wondered aloud what was going on. She was sure that he had just forgotten and would call soon. By Wednesday, I was so confused and upset that I decided I needed to call David and find out where I stood. He wasn’t home. I left a message, but I didn’t get a return call until the next day. When he called, I was relieved, but nervous. I couldn’t imagine what was wrong. David chatted casually like I was his best friend in the world, but no mention of Valentine’s Day. Finally, I broke down and asked him what he was doing that night. He informed me that he was playing basketball that night, but that a girl he met last week would be meeting him there. He asked if I had any suggestions on what he should wear to take her out after the game. WHAT? I was dumbfounded! I couldn’t speak! I quickly made some excuse to get off the phone before the tears started to flow.

After a good cry, I called Mary to tell her all about it. She commiserated, but had to go get ready for her Valentine date, of course. I called Steve and told him all about it too. It seems that several of my male friends had ended up dateless on this Valentine’s Day and were all headed to the dance together. They offered to pick me up and suddenly I was going out with four good-looking guys instead of none. We were all miserable and the boys all offered to beat David up for me. My very tall friend, Greg, suggested that we head over to the basketball game and beat him up right away. Although that sounded tempting, it seemed a little too desperate. I didn’t want to let David know how much I cared.

The five of us, Steve, Greg, Chris, and Eric (who looked like a blond Superman) headed for the dance. Eric was mourning the loss of a girl and was completely content to let me snuggle with him on the couch as we moped. We actually ended up having a great time wallowing in our misery together. At the end of the evening, I returned home and the reality of my lack of relationship with David returned. I cried myself to sleep. 

Gardening?

Should I start this by stating how much I LOVE having fresh salad every day or how much I HATE having dirt under my fingernails. Maybe the actual beginning is to discuss how motivated my mom is. Dang it! Back in January, we started talking about a garden. I probably would have bought a couple of tomato plants to watch die and been done with it, but not my mom. First she talked about how wonderful fresh vegetables are. Then, I'm pretty sure she arranged to have grocery prices go up so that they sounded even better. Next, she got a little frustrated that no one seemed as excited about a garden as her. Then the guilt kicked in and we all said we would help.

Mom and Tom did most of the preparing of the soil, since they know how to use the tiller. We had a big Family Home Evening to plant the seeds. We bought rubber boots to waddle through the mud.

We labeled everything so we wouldn't forget what was where.

We loved that little garden so much that we even put blankets on it when we had that freeze in February.
 

And now we get to eat salad with fresh red  and green lettuce, purple and orange carrots, green onions, peas, radishes, and spinach. Oh, so yummy! And I haven't bought a green vegetable for weeks.

I hope everyone else isn't tired of salad.

btw, next week for dinner co-op I'm doing fish tacos one day and something chicken and rice the other. And salad.

At last!

I love these posts! I've already written most of the story, so all I have to do is copy and paste, and I'm done! Sometimes it also helps if I don't read it so I don't remember just how much personal information I'm posting about myself on the internet.

The next day, Sunday, I thought about this phone call all day. I went to church, but I’m sure I never heard a word. I debated calling that day, or waiting till the next. When it came down to it, there was never a question. I couldn’t wait. I called David that evening. He was busy. Devastation! He took my phone number and I waited. I actually hoped it was just a ploy to have a reason to ask for my number again. About an hour later, he did call back and I was in heaven. He asked me out on a date for that weekend and, of course, I agreed. I could have died happy at that moment. Thursday, David gave Mary and me a ride home from the dance. I had left my car at Mary’s house. I think Steve had picked us up. Sadly, David’s sister had been in a car accident that totaled his cute little blazer, and we rode home in the Hyundai hatchback. At Mary’s, we sat outside on the car. No one wanted the evening to end yet. My dear friend walked by me and whispered in my ear, “You’re right. He is pretty cute.” I thought that it was all over. There was no way I could compete. I drove the rest of the way home, depressed and upset.

However, I was the one with the date for Saturday night. Friday, David called and asked what I was doing that night. Strangely, I hadn’t made plans yet, and although I knew you should never accept a day of date offer, I couldn’t resist. He asked if he could come over to visit at my house. He could have asked just about anything. So, Friday night David came over and met my parents. Did I mention that my dad is 6’3”, not shy, and quite intimidating? After spending some time chatting with my angel mother and gun-toting father, we went for a walk outside. We ended up at the swing set where we sat down to talk. The attraction was definitely headed up a notch. David casually mentioned that we should really count this evening as a date so that there wouldn’t be any issues with not kissing on the first date the next night. After having waited three months for him to ask me out, it probably said nothing for my moral restraint that I was sure there wouldn’t be a problem.

Saturday, David arrived in his black, mock turtleneck tucked into nicely fitting khakis. He looked fabulous and I think I may have had on a similar outfit. We laughed and I grabbed a sweater to throw on over my mock. We were about as silly as anyone could possibly be as we ate our dinner of burgers and fries at Red Robin. (What happened to my no eating restaurant cooked meat, I wonder?) We went to see a movie, Hunt for Red October. (Never go see a romantic comedy on the first date. An action movie is much better. Intense.) We held hands in the theater and of course it was awkward as I left my hand resting on the arm rest and he tried to figure out which way to take hold of it. The drive home was nerve-wracking! How would this end? We had actually talked about kissing the night before! Once we arrived at my house, David started to talk, so we stayed in the car. I fidgeted in my seat, until leaning in and placing his hand on my cheek, he said, “I’m going to kiss you now.” I stopped fidgeting.