A Valentine

1. Do you have a Valentine this year?

This was the first question posted on Patrick's most recent Saturday Six. An appropriate question, considering it was the Saturday before Valentine's Day and I thought I'd expand on the answer with a Valentine memory I will never forget.

Yes, I have a Valentine this year and he is the same Valentine who has been mine for the past 36 years. Mind you, we've been together a little longer than this as a couple but this year we celebrate our 36th one. Time warp back with me now 36 years ago when it was February 14, 1970. Wasn't that just a few years ago? I was 16 years old, a junior in high school and in love, very deeply in love, with a young man I began a "steady" relationship the past November. This was to be the first Valentine's Day that I knew I'd be showered with love and affection from my beau.

He told me he was taking me out to a very nice restaurant and he was planning on a special gift for me to celebrate the day. He had turned 19 the past December, held down a good part-time job and was fully capable of making this evening into something wonderful. I was so happy, so excited and so full of anticipation of what his gift to me might be. A bracelet? A pretty ring? A necklace? What?! As the day got closer, he began to drop some hints and I wasn't liking what I was hearing. I was being told about something arriving in a cage, a very unique thing that he knew I'd just love. A cage?? What kind of Valentine's gift could possibly come in a cage? Upon my insistence he finally broke down and informed me that I was about to become the recipient of a snake, a beautiful black snake. What?? I loved this young man very much and I knew he loved me even more so surely he was just teasing me...wasn't he?

This went on for several days and I tried to shrug it off and tell myself that of course no one in their right mind would give their special girlfriend a snake as a gift of love. However, doubts began to creep in as The Day approached and his story hadn't changed a bit. It must've been a Saturday night that we were going out; I must confess I don't remember but unless Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday that year, we certainly wouldn't have gone out during the week. No matter. I started to ready myself for the evening and from my upstairs bedroom windows I had a good vantage point to watch cars coming up the hill towards our house. I saw his car soar up the hill and soon after, heard him talking to my mother but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Shortly after this, my mother came up the stairs and into my bedroom with a most solemn face, shaking her head back and forth telling me, "I don't think you know this young man as well as you think you do. You won't believe what he has downstairs in the living room for you". This is not exactly verbatim but they were words to that effect. I was dressed and ready for the evening to begin but my dear mother's words and expression distressed me very much. I started down the stairs cautiously and about halfway down, spied a large wire cage sitting in the middle of the living room floor. That was enough for me and I let out a shriek, turned tail and bolted back up into my bedroom. I was coaxed back downstairs to look, really look at what exactly was in that cage. No sign of a snake or any other reptile anywhere; just a pretty black velvet oblong box nestled in a bed of straw.

I suspected this fellow was a little crazy but now I was sure. He and my mother were having a wonderful time laughing and congratulating each other on their performances. You see, they had become great chums right from the get-go of our relationship and their friendship grew only stronger through the years. And what was in the box? It was a lovely necklace featuring a black-gray hematite hanging from a silver filigreed chain. It was exquisite and I'd never seen anything like it in my life. The evening was full of merriment and love and my relief was apparent at this reaffirmation of my Valentine's love for me. Through the years my husband has teased me and delighted in doing so because I am so gullible and such an easy target...still! However, he never again pulled a trick like this on me and I think the look on my face when I saw that cage which very easily could've housed a snake was horrified enough to let him know that once was enough for this sort of thing.

I treasured that necklace for years and had never seen anything like it before or since. Alas, when our house was broken into two and a half years ago by some nameless scum of the earth, it was stolen from me along with almost all my other jewelry. They weren't the Queen's Jewels of England but they were mine, full of memories and love. Thank goodness I still have the memories. All days are special when you have someone to share your life with who loves you, faults and all, as much as you love them. You should never wait until Valentine's Day rolls around once a year to let that special person know how very much they mean to you but we all seem to go an extra mile on this day of Love, don't we?

Happy Valentine's Day