I Heart U

Happy Valentine’s Day to my hubby and kids. And to my mom, siblings and in-laws. Without them, my heart would be at least two sizes too small.

But a special shout-out to my girlfriend Christine who February 14th will forever remind me of. (Sidebar: Can a dangling preposition be avoided here? Puhleaze. It sounds great. Keep writing.)

On this pre-cellphone day 23 years ago, when we were living in London, I traveled across town to put a rose in her mailbox with a little note saying that my roommates (a.k.a. flatmates for the sticklers-for-detail out there) and I were headed on the ferry to Dublin that night and asking if she would she care to join us. A few hours later, who surprises us on the train to Holyhead? None other but Christine and one of her roommates. We were shocked and thrilled that she met us on the exact train we were on. What are the chances?

We had a crazy weekend of braving rocky seas, benefiting from my roommate Katherine’s contingency planning (i.e., a hidden bottle of wine and French loaf to stave off both hunger and sobriety), playing quarters with a really sweet truck (yeah, okay, lorry) driver on the ferry named Sean Doody, bracing ourselves against the freezing cold rain, surviving myriad pub crawls, suffering through a long-meandering cab ride home (because we ran out of the hotel so quickly upon arrival we forgot to note where we were staying), and enjoying heaps of sightseeing and yummy B&B breakfasts that soothed our Guinness hangovers. We also had the unpleasant surprise of one of my roommates unpacking a couple of sweaters that belonged to Katherine (yeah, stolen merchandise goes over well in cramped quarters) and the later awesome embarrassment of that same idiot pouring salt in her tea (while we all watched and didn’t say anything) only to be followed by her raging temper. “I refuse to pay for this; it has salt in it!” Stupid, loud, obnoxious Americans!

All in all, a Valentine’s weekend worth remembering.