V is for Victory

Ahhh, Valentine's Day! Normally a real bummer of a day for me, even when I'm attached. I have this thing about February, see? No matter how optimistically I go into the cold month of 28 days, it's never short enough for me. And the halfway mark is usually a heartbreaker because I always want more than I get. Today was a 10!

For me, I'm sensible enough to know that Valentine's Day is a manufactured holiday to boost those sagging gift sales that retailers live for, but I'm still enough of a romantic to wish for some grand gesture that will blow me away by the man I love. Today that happened. I had the wake-up call from 2000 miles away to tell me "Happy Valentine's Day, honey," which I totally expected. My gift to him arrived in my usual punctual fashion, so I was pleased. Then, after my shower, and a few hours before work, the jaw-dropping, "ohmygod" moment occurred when my doorbell rang. I thought it might be the DHL guy with my Barnes and Noble order. It wasn't. It gloriously was not! My local florist stood at my door proclaiming, "These are for you!" I swooned when I opened up the covered treasure. The most beautiful dozen roses I have ever seen sat on my kitchen table while my heart pounded and my head swooned. Add the fact that this particular man has had horrible past experiences with being the nice guy who gives flowers, so he's never given me flowers of any kind for any reason before. This was that quintessential grand gesture that women secretly hope they can brag about. Normally, I'm against roses in general,and especially on Valentine's Day, but today...well, today this just seems really cool.

I worked tonight too. It's a great night to be in the restaurant business. We haven't had that civilization-stopping weather, so nothing impeded our progress in wining and dining our guests. Tips were great! I did get reamed out by a woman who was peeved that so many people beat her to our dining room by 5:10. "Why do you take reservations at all then? What's the point of them?" (We only take reservations for holidays). Explaining to her that it "held" a table for her was no consolation. All I could do was apologize. When their ticket never printed in the kitchen, well, my night with them was over. The one good thing to come out of her railing at me is that my other tables tipped me extra well after seeing me survive the deluge I didn't deserve. I can live with that. ;)

The capper to my victorious day is that we've had an appetizer contest running for the last two weeks. The winner got a crisp one-hundred dollar bill. In a neck and neck race, I came out ahead. There's nothing like being rewarded with a greenback. Sweet! Maybe I'm moving out of those February blahs that have been chasing me for so long. Could it be? Might it be? Maybe this is just a one year reprieve for all the difficult February's I've endured in the last several decades. Hey. They say life begins at 40. I say let the games begin.

Hope you all had someone tell you they loved you today. And if you didn't, don't worry, someone really does love you.