I am not a Valentine's Day person. I think it's a pretty silly "holiday" if you want the honest truth.
Nothing seems less genuine to me that someone telling you they love you because the store told them to. No thanks.
Kind of like my kids telling me they are sorry for something after they were told to say they are sorry. And their "I'm sorrrryyyyy" comes out more like "I loathe yoooouuu."
Okay, well Valentine's is not really that bad. But you get what I am saying.
Where was I? Oh yeah, not so big on Valentine's Day.
But I did have one really good Valentine's Day. It was 15 years ago this year. I was 20 (20!!), a junior at Northwestern University and Brian (also a junior and fellow Wildcat) and I had been dating since the beginning of our freshman year.
Brian was in the middle of midterms and was taking organic chemistry. I have never had the pleasure of taking that class (my "math and science" requirements were covered by Logic and Statistics). But from what I heard, dental surgery always sounded more fun than Org.
Valentine's Day was the night before his midterm so he had been at the big Northwestern hang out all day. The place we all lovingly referred to as "the Libes."
He stopped by the sorority house on the way back to his apartment and, on a quick study break, proposed.
The whole story is a better, longer one than that. But the long and the short of it is I said, "Yes."
So yes, I might be one of the few girls out there who can report that
1. I got engaged while I my now-husband was on a study break
2. It was on Valentine's Day
3. He then went back to studying. And yes, he passed the class.
So yes, we're a practical bunch around here. But it stuck. And I am pretty sure we both agree it was the best study break he ever took.
And 17 months later we had graduated and looked like this.
So Happy Unnecessary-Holiday to all of you. One good (short) Valentine's Day is enough for me.
And to any of you Northwestern students who may have happened upon this. Yes people at NU do date. Sometimes they even get married. But more importantly, make your study breaks count. Now get back to the Libes, that education is costing you a fortune.
