A Beautiful Girl

So...Valentine's Day...

As a man in a relationship, the first Valentine's Day with a certain girl can make you work. Especially if your girlfriend deserves more than you feel you can give her!

Becca and I have been dating for 3 months and 15 days now. That is the second longest relationship I have ever been in, but it feels different from all the others. 

I probably sound cliché saying that, but I'm just being perfectly honest. It FEELS different from all my other relationships. Why? I do not know. Maybe because our personalities mesh so well. We certainly are both "divas!" Maybe because she is able to forgive my many faults so often. Maybe because it was just "meant to be"?...

There I go, sounding cliché again. 

I love my girlfriend. That I know for sure. She has so many quirks that make me giggle! For example, she has this ADDICTION to sweet tea/Dr. Pepper. Sweet tea from Chicken Express (or McDonalds if there is no CE around), and she must have it every day, it seems! I keep telling her she can save 365 dollars per year if she stopped going to buy sweet tea every day, but to no avail. 

Anyway, Valentine's Day became a big worry for me, because I have literally NO money...and she kept on telling me that she ALWAYS gets flowers for Valentine's Day. 

...

I guess I go and pick some by the freeway?

...

After a couple of SNOW STORMS?

...

And she kept dropping flower hints.

So I racked my brain for clever first-Valentine's-Day ideas that involved no money and no flowers...I guess I could write her a song again...but that was too predictable! And it goes to show that I have no imagination, either. There's some irony for you. Writing a song shows that you have no imagination.

Finally, a few days before the most important day of the year, I was told by someone wise (Lavon Wheeler) to go online to get ideas! 

Well, DUH! Why didn't I do that before? And then I got the idea to MAKE roses. Wonderful! Origami roses will not ever die! I can use colored paper, put a stick in the bottom for a stem, and voilá! She gets her Valentine's Day roses.

I used those roses as a springboard to make her a card. I took a picture of them, put it on the cover of the card, and wrote a poem on the inside of the card about roses on Valentine's Day. The whole thing took a while, and I made sure she understood that her present was keeping me up till 4 in the morning as I worked on it (completely true...). I told her that she needed to stay off of my computer (where I had her card and poem saved). She was soon convinced that I had written her another song! Heehee... :)

She was expecting a song. I gave her a card. I pointed out the roses on the cover. She thought that the picture on the front WAS her flowers! Then I pulled out the bouquet of three paper origami roses and presented them to her. She was baffled (I think!). 

I feel like this was a successful Valentine's Day for me. I know there are a lot of haters out there, but I personally like taking a day to do something extra special for my girl, and for her to do the same for me. I loved her personalized coupon book, card, and the huge box of Hershey's Kisses in milk chocolate and Cookies and Cream (my favorite ice cream flavor)!

I love holidays. Take away Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Martin Luthor King, Jr.'s birthday, and where does that leave you? 

A Muslim.

Becca is a beautiful girl who deserves the best. This Valentine's Day, I believe that I gave her my best. :)

Her Roses.

Darling, you have taken my heart for a ride

Down country lanes of love

In the warm summer sunshine

And on our journey through

Through this particularly fine day

I stop and pick three roses to present to you

A Valentine Bouquet

Darling, each rose is a special part of you

The first one, a sketch of your face

So beautiful

I wish I found a rose

That could truly play

Your Sistine-perfect face, and add it to

Your Valentine Bouquet

Darling, the second rose grew not by earth and sun

It heard you singing in the fields

And, like mine, its heart you won

It grew to the sound of your song

Each and every day

It grew inside my heart, and now it’s part

Of your Valentine Bouquet

Darling, this final rose is most beautiful of all

It is your heart; your deepest love for others

Who mean all the world to you

Nothing is more lovely than a girl

Who loves that way

And with roses three, I give love back to thee

With this Valentine Bouquet