Valentine's Day Thru the Years

Out on my run this morning my mind went backwards to the last 10+ years of Valentine's Day spent with various people and boys and friends. Here are a few that came to mind

Baby love Valentine's Day 

Elementary school. 5th grade. A boy had a crush on me and gave me frog figureines and a bag of chocolate kisses. get it?? Kisses?? Of all the candy he could have chosen.... It's like he totally wants to kiss me! (Thank you to the mother of that boy for picking out the sweet gift because let's be honest, that boy probably had no idea what was in that bag) I think I still have those frogs somewhere. 

My First Real Valentine's Day

Let me set the very romantic scene for you- 8th grade. After school dance. School lockers. This boy CH took me to his locker, pulled out a chocolate rose and asked me to be his girlfriend. It was very sweet. I said yes and we HELD HANDS  down the hall until our English teacher saw us. We went back to the dance and slow danced as boyfriend/girlfriend. It was all very scandalous. Later that afternoon/evening we talked on the phone and I loved every minute of it. 

The Valentine's Day that Started it All

Who knew that an afternoon spent at Walmart with CG would change my whole teenage life? We were friends, he was off limits because my bestfriend liked him that last year (sound like high school? it was) but that day we decided we really didn't give a crap. I liked him, he liked me. I think we had our first kiss that day. #sorrynotsorry would have been the hashtag I used if hashtags were a thing back then. It was "forbidden" and yet we were on cloud 9. If I had known that because of this day I would lose my best friend and eventually all my friends and everything would end with a broken heart...I still don't know if I would have changed a thing. 

My Permanent Valentine 

2010. 5pm. Olive Garden. Bart gave me a necklace that said "eternity" (get it?? Because he wants to be with me forever???) and a house plant. We had been officially dating for 5 months and I was totally in love with him. Now that he "gets the milk for free" he hates celebrating Valentine's Day. But that's ok. I'm still totally in love with him. 

*and every year, through boyfriends and heart break and marriage, my dad has taken me and my sisters out for our own Valentine's Day date. It's one of my favorite traditions*