Valentine's Day

Here is a little insight into why Lee and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day.  First, we tell each other every day that we love each other, so it's not like we need a day to prompt us!!

Year 1 - February 14, 2001 - Dinner Cruise

This was our first V-day together, so Lee was so sweet and bought tickets for us to go on a dinner cruise on the Spirit of Washington.  Trust me, I was very excited and thought this was so great!!  We got dressed up and headed downtown to get on the boat.  It was FREEZING outside, so we definitely had to stay inside the boat.  Which would normally be fine because the boat is basically one big window.  So, seeing DC at night wouldn't be a problem!  Or would it???  The windows were so fogged up because of the warmth inside and the frigid temps outside, so we couldn't see anything!  We decided to go up on the deck so we could at least take in the sights.....uh, it was so windy and cold, forget about it!!  We came back in and got seated for dinner.  We felt like we were in a cafeteria.....packed in right next to another couple on one side and another on the other side.  Basically, it was a dinner for 400, not 2.  The food was horrible as well.  Not that we really were expecting something spectacular, but at least edible would've been nice!  Then the dancing began.....we felt like we were at a really bad wedding where nobody would get started dancing and it took a conga line to get people up (not these two people!!).  It ended up being like Dance Party USA with horrible techno music and really raunchy dancing.  I thought we were on a romantic dinner cruise?  Guess not.  But I digress.....the best part of the night came when the ship's chef came out and demonstrated how to make Bananas Foster. 

Looks great huh??  Well, this is what it looked like when the chef made it!!  We were so excited to bite into this delectable delight!  Then, the waiter came by and brought us this: 

Yes, that's right.....a piece of banana bread.  Um, what??  Needless to say, we were none too pleased.  Don't get me wrong, banana bread can be very tasty (this one was not) but when you were expecting to have wonderfully prepared Bananas Foster, this was a huge let down.  All in all, the dinner cruise was quite a disaster and neither one of us was too thrilled about it.  It was a wonderful thought, but just didn't work out.

Year 2 - February 14, 2002 - Basketball

Where Lee isn't the biggest basketball fan, he has always had much respect and admiration for Michael Jordan.  When MJ returned to the NBA (again) as a Washington Wizard, I decided it would be a great idea to buy tickets for Lee to see him in action!  So, I got online and found tickets to a home game right around Valentine's Day.  A few days before the game we would be attending, MJ got hurt.  Yep, messed up his knee.  We got to the game and watched him warm up with the team, but really, the only thing we got to see during the game was him conditioning his knee on the sidelines on an exercise bike!  Awesome!  Strike 2!

Year 3 - February 14, 2003 - Japanese Steakhouse

A great Japanese Steakhouse in Gainsville opened up this year and Lee made reservations for us to enjoy a great meal.  We got there that night only to find out that even though we had a reservation, we still had to wait for a table to open up.  They told us there was a 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait!  Um, are we in a Seinfeld episode here??  So, with enough arguing about the fact we had a reservation for a specific time, they sat us.  They sat us alright!!!  Right on top of the people next to us.  We were crammed into an already full table.  Awesome!  But, where else would we go?  It was Valentine's Day and no restaurant would be open unless we felt like Subway or something!  So, we stuck it out.  And, the food wasn't even good!  SWEET!

Year 4 - February 14, 2004 - Jeffrey Gaines

Jeffrey Gaines quickly became one of our favorite artists when he opened for Tracy Chapman at Wolf Trap.  His voice was just amazing so we began following him and learning when he would play locally again.  Turned out, he would be playing in February at the Barns at Wolf Trap.  We were so excited because the Barns is a really small indoor concert hall over at Wolf Trap where you get wonderful acoustics and are so close to the stage.  Well, as luck would have it, a snow storm blew into town and the concert was canceled because Jeffrey was stuck in Baltimore and couldn't get there.  Rock on!

Year 5 - February 14, 2005 - The final straw

We decided that we were no longer going to make any kind of plans because as you can see, they didn't exactly work out for us!  So, I decided I would just make it simple and get Lee a card.  I was at Wegmans doing some grocery shopping and picked up a card for him.  As you know, they always put greeting cards in their own little bag so that they don't get ruined, so when I went outside to put my groceries in the car, I picked up a bag of groceries and the wind picked up the card that was being held down by that particular bag and carried it clear across the parking lot!  Ok, I'm done!  It is just NOT meant to happen!!!!!

So, therein lies the reason we do not celebrate Valentine's Day!!!  You shouldn't have to put so much effort into telling your loved one how much they mean to you.  So, we just say it every day and we both know how much we mean to each other!!!