Entry 816 – Valentine’s Day Story

Well, after worrying about Rob for most of the 13th, and being half-afraid to call him cuz I didn’t know if his parents were really gonna lay into him about not getting home till almost seven in the morning, he finally called me at around seven-ish.

Yeah, I know in the previous entry, I went on a whole insecurity bend about me and Rob.  Thanks to talking to two friends, of whom I’m VERY thankful to for listening to me and talking me through this, I came to the realization that even though perhaps some part of me wants to, I can’t compare this to the past.  Rob isn’t any other guy that I’ve ever had serious feelings for, he’s certainly not Mike, he’s nothing like Will or Jason, and while I’ve accepted that, I have to learn to accept that because he’s different, the situations between us will be different.  If I acknowledge him as a different person, I should be able to acknowledge that the situations we face will be different as well.

Anyway, we talked on the phone on the 13th for awhile, I found out he was okay, nothing really serious happened concerning his parents, they didn’t hate me, and that cut on his hand was doing better.  (Yeah, I’m kinda paranoid about parents hating me.  But luckily, as far as Rob said, they both like me, so yay!)  Anyway, soon after, he had to go, because he was going to a flourist.  I said, "Ooo, a flourist.  Whatcha gettin’ there?"  He told me I’d have to wait and see the next day.  So he told me he’d call me back when he got home again and we hung up.  I went back to work on the memory book for him that I’d been doing stuff for since the seventh.  I was almost done, too.  The first page had about half the lyrics of A Whole New World, and a picture of us dressed in the costumes we wore on his birthday for Phantom, the second page was an ocean scene with Finding Nemo stickers and lines.  The next page was a Shrek page and had pictures of Shrek, Donkey, and Puss.  Then, I think it was the Princess Bride, with a bunch of different pictures and quotes.  Then a Hard Day’s Night one, with John’s famous, "We’ve broken out!" speech.  Not to mention I had to add in Rob’s reaction when he saw a close-up of George.  "Yikes!  Talk about a uni-brow!"  Then there were pictures from, like, the Christmas party, that concert that I went to with Rob on January first, and stuff like that.  Those were the friend pages.  After that, I had a page entitled, "The Great (Sucky!) Encore Match!"  I wrote things like "Songs with the word Love," and stuff like that around the two pictures I had on that page.  One of me and Rob and one of Mike and Shannon.  The next page was full of pictures of me and Rob, dressed as Phantom and Christine, or at the Christmas party, whatever.  On the back of that page, I just had solo ones of him with funny captions and stuff.  Then on the last page, my dad was able to make a black and white photo of the one Melanie took of me and Rob at the Multiplex, so I glued that to the last page, with little thought bubbles, him thinking, "I look ridiculous," and me thinking, "You do not!"

Well, when he called me back that night, I was still coloring one of the pages, and he was looking up things about flowers.  Lol, I couldn’t help thinking, "Should it scare me that he’s doing what sounds like scientific research about flowers?"  I think I decided that yes, it should.  But I figured, and he told me, it would become clear why the next day.  So we talked for awhile longer until I had to go and pick Mike up from Brookdale.  Once again, we got off, and oh!  It turned out that earlier in the day, the reason he hadn’t called me was because he thought I was gonna call him.  So basically, I was worried for nothing!  But oh, well.  I’m just as glad to worry about nothing because at least that meant it wasn’t something, you know?

Okay, anyway, onto the actual Valentine’s Day.  Rob said that he’d call me that day and we’d decide when to meet up or what we were gonna do or whatever.  Cuz I figured he was planning something.  Oh!  That’s another thing I gotta tell.  When I picked Mike up, we went to Cold Stone and he wanted to go to a couple different liquor places to pick up caluha (sp?) to take over to Shannon’s for V-Day.  (Man, that is SO weird to write!  Mike going to liquor stores . . .)  So at some point, I was saying that I knew Rob had some kinda plan, but I didn’t know what it was, and Mike made a joke about how he was half-expecting his cell phone to ring and it to be Rob saying, "Mike, what can I do for Kate for Valentine’s Day?"  I laughed, but I said no, he wouldn’t do that.  I mean, this was Rob’s first Valentine’s Day with a girlfriend.  I somehow knew that even if he was completely floundering for ideas, (which I also felt somehow that he wasn’t,) he wouldn’t ask anyone else for help.  He’d want to pull of something by himself.  I don’t know, I just somehow knew it’d be important to him.  But the funniest part was when I said I knew he had something planned, Mike said something like, "I hope he’s not expecting sex, because he’ll be bitterly disappointed, considering your mindset on the subject."  I just burst out laughing and said something like, "Geez!!  He’s not gonna expect that!  We haven’t even been together a month, you know!"  To which he said, "There you go.  Lonely guy, first girlfriend, he might be thinking what better time to do that then on Valentine’s Day?"  I answered back with, "Maybe, but Mike?  He’s the most naive guy I’ve ever met."  "Exactly why he might expect it," he says.  "No, I mean naive in the other way," I tell him.  Mike gets it after a second and says something like, "Oh, you mean he might not know how to go about things?"

So yeah, that was just funny.  I couldn’t help laughing at that.

ANYWAY.  Onto the actual V-Day.  Rob called, and I wasn’t able to pick him up because my dad was out at the post office in freakin’ Tim-buck-to mailing stuff.  Anyway, he said he could probably get a ride since somebody with a car came back while we were on the phone.  So we hung up and I milled around for awhile, talking to Mike, and trying to finish this poem I was writing to Rob.  Except Mike kept distracting me by either coming over and talking at me, or panicking about the flower and chocolates he’d gotten for Shannon, or turning on the TV when I really needed quiet, or some such like that.

Well, Rob got here and I answered the door, (after almost falling over the cat food dishes,) and he hands me a boquet with a little green stuffed puppy attached to it, as well as a card, and a heart shaped balloon that says "Just Because."  I took those and gave him a hug, then as he was taking his shoes off in the laundry room, I went up and set the stuff on the tape shelf at the bottom of the stairs in the dining room, then went up to change.  Or maybe I was still in my shirt and pajama pants when he came up to the dining room.  In any case, he s

aid he had to tell me why he’d gotten the flowers that he did and that they each had special symbolism.  He tells me that the red rose was for our love for one another, the lilies were because of my strength, "because, you know, you’re Tank Girl," and the snapdragons symbolized my faith in him.

How romantic is that?  (Even the ‘Tank Girl’ part.)

I think I like what he told me the snapdragons represent to him best, cuz he said afterward, "Cuz you’re always saying, ‘Come on, try this, I’ll hold your hand,’ and stuff like that, and when someone holds a snapdragon, they open up."

Mike left not too long after.  Or rather, I drove hi over to Shannon’s, with his single rose, box of chocolates, and Caluha (sp?).  I came back and Rob was sitting on the couch, playing Pinball/listening to music on my laptop.  I just took the time to stand behind him, looking at him when I knew he couldn’t see me.  I was just enjoying being able to smile at him, letting everything I felt show on my face.  I called my mom, asking if the bag full of gift bags was up for grabs.  She said any of them were, except she needed a smaller red one.  Since I couldn’t find the one she meant, (there were about eight red bags in there!) I left it alone and figured she could deal with it.

Rob and I left at about quarter to five because we were gonna go see When A Stranger Calls.  I actually saw the younger brother of someone I usd to work with at the Dollar Store.  It was funny, he knew he recognized me, and Rob pointed out that he was trying to get my attention.  So Iturned around and he’s saying, "Okay, who are you?  I know I know you from somewhere."  Lol, I remembered him, and we had a good laugh about how recognizing people but not knowing where can drive you nuts.  Turned out they were seeing the saem movie we were, too.

It was a good movie.  I umped at a few points, but it was nice since Rob’s arm was around my shoulders the entire time.    We came back to the house after the Multiplex and my mom gave us her gift to us, which ended up being a milk chocolate heart since neither of us is partial to Peeps.  Then I swiped a red bag and put my gifts to Rob in there.  (A little Valentine hedgehog, white with red quills and holding a heart,  I put the poem in it’s paws behind the heart, cuz yeah it was when we got back, but I finally managed to finish the damn thing!  And also a mini-vase with a fake red rose and the words "I love you" on the vase.)  I put those in the bag and when he went upstairs, I put it behind my back, went up to my room where he was, and told him to close his eyes.

He had such an adorable, little-kid reaction to seeing the hedgehog!  He was like, "Ooo!  Now I have my own hedgehog to carry with me when you’re not near."  Or something like that.  In any case, it was really sweet. 

Lol.  That memory book that I desribed making up there, too, I gave to him later that night.  I couldn’t resist.  I just wanted him to see it so badly.  So I went down and got it for him, telling him it was what I was gonna give him on the 19th, our one month anniversary, but that I didn’t want to wait.  He looked through it and after he was done, said that now his anniversary gift felt pathetic, because all he was gonna do was sing to me.  I just smiled and said, "That’s not pathetic, it’s sweet.  Just consider it a different form of artistic expression."

Oh, yeah.  I hadn’t opened his card until after I got hom from dropping him off, but here’s what it says:  "When we’re together, Valentine . . ."  (you open it up,)  ". . . the thrills never end!!!"  Then he wrote on the inside,

"Dearest Kate,
     This one "jumped" out at me.  It just seemed perfect to describe us, but by "thrills," I think we could put "crazy adventures" and it woul still sound perfect.  Anyway, I’m getting off the point,
with all the love in my heart,
     "the no-name animal,"
Rob.

P.S.
Peace, love, and Fruit Loops.

Lol, why do I always meet people who put P.S. things?  I love how he said the card jumped out at him, cuz they do that for me, too.  Not to mention I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to pick, like, the perfect card.  Both funny and romantic at the same time. 

I don’t know how I ever got so lucky.  I don’t know why he’s willing to put up with me and my moods, I don’t know how he’s able to do it, I don’t understadn how he can make me feel so safe and happy and loved and just simply diminish my insecurities the way that he can, but all I can say is dear God, I’m so thankful that he can and will and does do all of these things.