Romance LIVES

Take heart, ladies (and gents). Romance has not died a generation or two back. Nope. It lives in the young people of today.

Case in point. (No, this isn't me, as will become clear.)
She wanted a good Valentine's Day. She had never really had one before. Sure, she was young and there was time but many girls, from the age of 12 on, knew that Valentine's Day could be special if you had the right person to share it with. By the first week of January, she had already crossed the words out of her date book and calendar. She decided she might have to boycott Hallmark (although chocolate was still permitted).

And then she met a boy.
And not just ANY boy. A boy who was taught (by some wise soul) that girls love romance. He showed many signs of it on each date, but he was building up to Valentine's Day.

First, he called her mother and explained the plan. He wanted to tell this young woman that he was going to be out of town for the weekend for work and then, behind her back, he would make special plans for her. He would arrive for her before sunrise and take her to the park to watch the sun come up because this girl once told him how much the sunrise meant to her. Then, he would whisk her away for the day to someplace new and fun. Would mom help? Well, YEA! This kind of lying is the good kind. For five days, much scheming took place.

Said young woman was mighty disappointed that she would not have a date on Valentine's Day but being a supportive girlfriend, she told him she understood. She hid her sadness, even from her mother, who saw right through her facade. In fact, she worried that he would feel so bad that it would ruin his weekend and so tried to say whatever he needed to hear to make him feel less guilty. Mom just snickered.

On the morning he was to "leave", Mom, Dad and girlfriend picked him up and took him to the airport. He had a suitcase. He was dropped off at departures and as the sad girl and her family drove away, his sister in law picked him back up and took him home. Throughout the day, he texted and called his girl, sending her a picture of L.A. as he "came in for a landing" and even turning on a couple of radios loudly so that it would sound like he was standing in a busy airport.

Mom, in the meantime, schemed so that said daughter would sleep in the living room that night (wearing flannel PJs, of course) and the next morning, just as planned, Mom snuck down at 6:50 a.m. and woke her daughter. "You have a visitor, sweetie" whispered to a numb, sleepy girl.

The front door was opened and there he stood, leaning on the doorframe with a bouquet of roses and a red heart box of chocolate in hand, front light shining down on him like someone from Hollywood had positioned everything for the perfect Valentine movie moment. Even mom caught her breath at the romance of it all.

So, Happy Valentine's Day everyone. May it be full of hugs and kisses from those you love. May you be someone's Valentine. And may romance find you, whether you are new loves, old loves--or just hopeful loves.