be mine

I know Valentine's Day was already a week and a half ago but I must brag about what Mr. G surprised me with. I specifically told him not to do anything special and I really wasn't doing the girl thing. The thing where you say you want nothing but get upset when they show up empty handed. The previous Valentine's Days from relationships past have always been such a letdown that I no longer have expectations. Therefore, it's literally just another day. Even though I told him I wasn't expecting anything, I still picked him up a couple of cigars. He mentioned that he had a few but that they had dried out. My friend works at a lounge that gets some pretty rare ones so I picked two up. When I arrived at work that morning, the receptionist was on the phone. I noticed a small bouquet of roses. She looked at me, then pointed at the flowers and shook her head, yes. I stared back in disbelief and shook my head, no. She smiled and pointed at them again and continued to shake her head. I snapped out of it, grabbed the roses and quickly walked to my desk. I read the card and it was super simple yet very sweet. I immediately text him thank you. What a great way to start the day.

I had to help out at the restaurant that night so I went directly from one 8 hour day to another 5 hours at a chaotic restaurant on one of the busiest nights of the year. By the time I got finished I was ready to crash but Mr. G was leaving in the morning for DC so I wanted to see him at least for a little bit. I caught my third wind and arrived at his home. He welcomed me in and immediately poured me a glass of wine. We were standing in his kitchen when he disappeared and came back with a very large red gift bag. He said that he knew I told him not to do anything but that he wanted to. I smiled and said that I got him something as well. I barely had time to think that entire week so when it came time to wrap his gift, I went through my miscellaneous drawer hoping to find anything that would work. I literally had no time to even stop for a gift bag. I ended up finding some tissue paper and tying the cigars up in it. Pink and white tissue paper with a blue ribbon. It wasn't my best work but it definitely could have been worse. I recall a few years ago, my then boyfriend used paper bags from a grocery store to wrap up Christmas gifts. If the scale was from grocery store bags to Martha Stewart, I was somewhere in the middle. He opened his first and seemed appreciative that I did anything at all. I wanted to keep it simple and without any implications. I have always been so bad with surprises. I hate them. I prefer to always know what I'm walking into. Yes. I know that I am a control freak. So when I peered into the large bag, I began to sweat. I pulled out two bottles of wine, one red and one white. He said they looked really good and that we could open one later if I wanted. Then I pulled out two beers, a stout and a hefe. He said he wanted to try them with me. Next, there was a card but I wanted to open it last. At the bottom of the bag there were also white candy hearts (I told him they were my favorite and he picked them out), candy cigarettes (we had talked about them once and I told him how much I loved their weird chalky taste), some more of the Rooibos tea that I enjoyed at his house, and snicker doodle cookies that he made for me (one of my fav cookies). I just kept looking at him and smiling and saying thank you. I took a large gulp of wine then proceeded to tear open the card. The first line was epic, "I know that the way to your heart is through your liver." He knew me well. Perhaps too well.  The rest was sweet but not overdone. In the card there was also a gift card to TGI Fridays. I didn't understand. Had I drunkenly professed my love for the flair toting American chain restaurant? He saw the look on my face and almost looked insulted. "Jen. This is where we first met!" Shit. Well there you have it, kids. My sentimentality meter is at an all-time low. There also happened to be a coupon book which we both agreed was a little cheesy but I still love that he took the time to do it. I told him to not count on me actually using it, and he said that it wasn't necessary considering he'd basically do anything I asked. And that's how you do Valentine's Day. Like a boss. Put some thought into it people. I know that it's an over commercialized holiday that has dark origins but making someone you care about feel special is pretty rewarding. And yes, you should do it more then just one day a year. Like often. In little ways and in big.