Romance, Anyone?

First off, let me just remind everyone of how much I love my husband, and how happy I am with him. I just feel that what I’m about to write might give the wrong impression.

Ladies, I think you would agree that our hearts are basically big, deep oceans that we carry a LOT of emotion in. Things from the past don’t just disappear; we simply send them to the bottom of the ocean. Doesn’t mean they no longer exist. We also have pretty good memories- especially when it comes to matters of the heart. So, really, this post isn’t my fault; its just how I’m programmed.

Like I said, I’m a happily married woman. But I still remember all the romantic moments of my life, and let’s face it, they weren’t ALL with my husband, just like his aren’t all with me.

This Valentine’s Day, I’d like to share a few of my favorite romantic memories. Because I think some of them are really sweet, some are kind of funny, and they all remind me of where I came from, and where I had to go to get to where I am now.

- My first official boyfriend was a guy named Spencer. He was your typical class clown, a goof till the end. I started out hating him, but somehow he suckered me in- probably by making me laugh. We also worked together at a local grocery store. One night, he left work before I did. When I did leave, I came out to find a vase of pink roses in the back of my little Chevy pick-up truck. At that point, it was the most romantic thing a boy had done for me. We really only dated for maybe three weeks, but remained friends throughout high school. And, of course, we are now Facebook friends. Isn’t that what we do these days?

- Let me tell you, my courtesy clerk job at the grocery store gave me more crushes than I knew what to do with. I worked with a lot of cute guys. I mean, cute. This one guy in particular- Derek- went to the other high school across town, and he was like a Ken doll. Blonde hair, blue eyes, football player, tall- ah. Somehow we came up with some strange inside joke about M&M’s- probably about how I wanted to live off them or something (fat girl to the bitter end!). One day, I was running an empty cart into the store while he was running a customer’s out. As we past, he tossed a bag of M&M’s into my cart. You would have thought it was a marriage proposal. Nothing ever happened with Derek, but those M&M’s tasted sweeter than usual.

- I had a horribly dysfunctional relationship with a guy for…ages. Half my life, it sometimes feels like. I think we dated on and off for over three years. We were even engaged for a brief moment in time (Much to my mother’s displeasure, since I was still practically a child). The deal was he was my best friend’s older brother. And I had the biggest crush on him. It was embarrassing, because every time I was over at their house and he was around, I acted like a total goober. So one night I was over there playing board games with the whole family- including him. Afterwards, my best friend and I left for her house. I remember standing in her kitchen, and hearing her front door open. Peaking around the corner, I saw him. He’d come over specifically to ask me out. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would simply fail me. In the end, we parted ways, and I moved to Florida.

- Sandy, as we'll call him (Thanks, Ma), did a number and a half on me. I still have nightmares about him. I know that sounds so incredibly drama-queenie. But don't we all have that one person that just ruined us, at least for awhile? Its just like having a scar. It heals, but you still see that you were hurt. Anyway, all Sandy was was the most expensive booty-call ever- we met in Florida on the College Program, and I visited him in Jersey, and he visited me in Montana. Although at the time I just wanted to marry him and be done with it. Silly girl. One thing I have to be thankful for is that because of Sandy, I've been to NYC. We only stayed the night there, but it was probably one of the most magical days of my life. We held hands on the subway, went out to dinner, walked probably a hundred miles of the city's streets, ate ice cream in bed. We went to Atlantic City and wandered the boardwalk. We ate apple pie w/ cheddar cheese at Johnny Rocket's- something he'd never had before. We sang along with the jukebox. Its little things like that that I clung to for the longest time, thinking they meant something. Like I said, silly girl.

- Josh wasn’t anyone, really, that made a mark on my dating map. He was kind of a goof- my friend and I called him Rockstar, because he sang at this cute bar we used to go to, and he clearly took it a bit too seriously. Still, he was cute. One night, we were there for the Jimmy Buffett tribute show (which he had “opened” for- if you can open a tribute show in a bar…). At one point, he came over and asked me to dance. It wasn’t even a romantic song (A Pirate Looks At Forty), but for some reason it stuck in my head. I think the fact that I was being recognized as an attractive woman was enough. Like I said, nothing ever happened Rockstar, because someone else came along…

- Mark stopped my heart the first time I saw him. In a good way. It was like the moment I saw him, no one else mattered, existed, or had a chance with me (I am quite the catch, so you can imagine the devastation this all caused! HA!). He was just everything and more that I could have imagined. It was as if God had sat me down and asked me what I wanted in a man, and then…made it happen. And sent him to me. He had these beautiful hazel eyes, and this cute smile, and tan skin…our first kiss was a tipsy one outside of Chevy’s, but I knew from that moment on that the deal was sealed. A few months later, I was- surprise!- pregnant, and that next July we were married. You can take the girl out of the country, but she’ll apparently still have a shotgun wedding due to pregnancy. Ha- just kidding. ; )

So, there you have it. Some of my most romantic moments. I know, you are delighted to know them all. Still, for some reason they are kind of fun to remember, only because I was- okay, AM- such a goofball, so anyone making a fuss over me, even if its just M&Ms, makes me smile.

I hope everyone has a great Valentine’s Day, whether it includes being romantic with your significant other, having a fling, or just hiding under the covers until the day is done and over with!