Valentine's Day was ... lovely.
It started out a bit weird. I got up at 5:30 a.m. as always and while waiting for the bus with Mother-dear, both of us wondering why it wasn't coming, we heard on the radio (thankfully it was on!) that Jordan School District had decided to start school two hours later that day due to the unexpected snow-dump. Umm ... okay! So we went home and got warm in the laundry room, talking, and eventually fell asleep. Brant called at 9 or so to see if we should ride together to school so I ended up going with him. I wore my V-Day shirt that he got me (baseball T with green sleeves, white middle, and pink writing with hearts saying "All I Want Is You") and it was a fun day at school. Afterward, we went to my house to get the things I needed for his gifts and then we went to his house. His mom sent him on "errands" while I basically scrapbooked his door (which was closed, I might add--and the door will be explained later). When I was finally done ripping tape and finished his door, I went upstairs where I found him listening to his iPod and watching Oprah (LOL). I wanted him to open my gift first, which consisted of a white polo with blue stitching [that basically made it!] and "Glory Road"--my stab in the dark that turned out to be an accurate one. He likes it and didn't already have it. Good! Then we went downstairs. I wondered why he was hesitating on the stairs--apparently he'd been expecting a scavenger hunt, but he got a bit of a surprise. For his door, my favorite part of my gift, I printed out the lyrics to seven of "our songs" and then surrounded them with pictures of us on the dates where we'd heard those songs or that went along with those dates. And since I have a weakness for black and white pictures of kids dressed in grown-up clothes in romantic scenes, they accompanied the pictures of us, and then I added the heart-attack element by putting paper hearts around the seven parts, each having an inside joke or place we'd been or activity we'd done written on it. He came around the corner and beamed when he looked at it and saw what it was. He told me later that he loved it so much he started shaking! -and I thought his hands shook in anticipation of his giving me his gifts ... He also told me he stared at it for an hour and a half later that day. I would've been happy for half an hour! (It was a lot of work, though!)
He still had his shakes when he handed me his gift. It was a pretty big box, but not very heavy. Brant has always been very good with holidays, so I was still excited. I took the teddy bear with chocolates attached off (the bear's name is Russell ;) ) and I opened the first box ... and it was Christmas all over again (Rach and Mom, you can appreciate this). I found another box. I opened that and found a note and ... another box. The note ... well I'll just keep that to myself ;) ... and I opened the next box. I tried to predict when the last box would come, but I was wrong. With each succeeding box came littler notes with things such as "Almost there" and "So close..." until I finally unwrapped a little white box that held a gorgeous box of what looked like cherry wood--rich, red, and shiny--but its contents were even better. I opened the box to find two little earings glimmering back at me that I knew were real diamonds (and which assumption he confirmed). I naturally LOVED them! What girl wouldn't be ecstatic about diamonds?! We took out the earings I had in--the ones that embody the antithesis of the small and genuine earings, being huge and fake--and went upstairs. Mother-dear was on her way to pick me up so that I could go to work and in the meanwhile, I met his mom's visiting teacher. She said, "You have a very good friend there."
I said, "Me or him?"
"Well I know him; I don't know you."
"I see, haha, well, yes, I know I do."
"He's always been a cute one. If I were your age I'd be over here too!"
Brant and I went back in the kitchen and were just making each other laugh when his mom called from the front room, "She approves, Emily! She likes you!"
Madre-Lita finally arrived, bringing the last portion of his gift with her: Dutch Apple Pie--his favorite with an accompanying inside joke. I gave it to him, we hugged goodbye, and I went to work! (Happy Birthday, Grammy!)
We ended up having a two-day Valentines this year because we had our V-Day date on Friday instead so we didn't have to worry about school the next morning. I went to a hospital tour that morning with my little genius Asian friend, Mason, where we learned about surgery, tried it on water-filled rubber gloves, learned how to scrub up, and best of all (next to 'practicing' ourselves) was we got to watch surgery!!! I saw a laparoscopic appendectomy, I saw a woman be prepped for surgery and then 'knocked out,' but most memorably, I saw a knee surgery. The knee was bent, completely open with flesh spurting out of the tight wrappings, and drills and suckers going wild! And once again I knew I wanted to do this more than anything in the world!
It got out an hour late, but it was definitely worth it. I dropped Mason off at a dentists' convention where his parents happened to be, at the Salt Palace, and then drove back to school and somehow made it on time to third period! I gave Erik and Mason (who mysteriously arrived after school) a ride home and then slept until 5:30 when Brant called.
I changed and we left for the parent-recommended Porcupine Grill at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Needless to say, dinner was very enjoyable. We made fun of the professional arm wrestling on the TV, etc. over his Cajun chicken and my clams and scallops. (MMMM!) We were both full long before we'd finished, so the waitress told us she'd bring boxes, but that we could stay as long as we wanted. So we did! We talked for another hour or so at our table until we decided to go have some of his pie. As it turned out, there were some issues with our movie tickets so we left without pie to go rectify the situation. It was much easier than we'd thought so we sat down in the table area of Jordan Commons. I asked him how he was doing and when he replied, "Peachy," I asked him to elaborate. After that, we proceeded to name every fruit and berry we could think of and attach an emotion, feeling, or event with an accompanying sensation to that fruit. We easily filled our extra hour and then went into our movie, "Definitely Maybe" during which I tickled his arm . . . I just know how I like it . . . ;)
At the end of the movie, I looked over and half expected to see Ryan Reynolds (the star of the show). We obviously drove home and both recalled how good of a night it had been for us both, but had a short goodbye since I was already 15 minutes late (b/c our movie had started 20 minutes later than expected).
I hope you all had a marvelous Valentine's Day yourselves! And remember, if you're reading this, I LOVE YOU!
