LOVE THURSDAY

I realize I never told you about our Valentine's Day. Michael took me to Buca Di Beppo, a family style (and popular) Italian restaurant. We ended up having to wait for twenty minutes in an incredibly packed lobby for our table. Buca Di Beppo had anticipated the Valentine crowd by adding small tables into the nooks and crannies of the restaurant. As a result, Michael and I were crammed between two other couples at a rickety little table with an electronic candle that I kept bumping with my hand and flinching because I thought I was going to burn myself. Michael had just gotten a new phone and we were discussing photography apps. While I was explaining the different ones I love to use, I noticed the woman on Michael's left aptly listening. Her mouth was slightly open and she even nodded her head at some of the things I was saying. I almost asked her if she wanted to take notes, but then I got self conscious and stopped talking because what do I know about photography apps. Except that I use them every damn day. The couple that sat on the other side of us appeared to be a young punk/hipster couple. They sported multiple piercings and unisex hairstyles. The boy was just old enough to order alcohol and had asked for a shot of Limoncello with their dessert. We could hear the conversation between the two as they waited for their dessert. She was complaining about his drinking. He said he was just going to have that one drink. Then she talked about how much she loves him. She's never loved any one like she's loved him. He asked her if she was staying over that night and she replied that she wasn't sure because she had to be at work early the next day. This prompted Michael to mumble under his breath "and we all know what that means...sorry dude." It was totally the weirdest bi-polar conversation and it made Michael and I chuckle. This was followed by some weird awkward scene involving returned Limoncello and the restaurant manager. They were not having the best of evenings.

If you ask Michael about our evening, he will tell you that it was the worst meal. I will agree that the food was lackluster at best, but I would not say that the evening went poorly. At one point I began to notice that we were probably the oldest couple in the room. We were surrounded by high school sweethearts and college boyfriend/girlfriend couples. It was just like Bread Sticks from Glee with less jazz hands. This is an experience I completely missed out on in my high school days. I was always single on Valentine's Day until Chris and by then the novelty of Valentine's Day had worn off on both of us. Michael gave me that high school Valentine's Day that I'd missed out on. Now he may not see that on a positive note, but I can assure you that I found the whole thing charming. There was a sweetness to the idea of it that had nothing to do with the two glasses of wine I consumed. It was like "hey! this is what regular folks do!". If you're one of those people who have lived on the outside of normal for as long as I have, you'll understand. Quaint may be the word to describe it. Like roller skating.

Michael has made reservations for us at a little bistro near the house for Friday night. It was his idea. It came to him while we planned this week's menu. Part of me thinks he did it as part of a Valentine's do-over but another part of me thinks otherwise. Michael is just good at setting up date nights. I just never think or plan ahead for things that require reservations and honestly my brain shuts down on Fridays around 5 pm. If left up to my own devices on a Friday evening, I'm eating a sleeve of crackers for dinner. Michael makes sure that doesn't happen any more. It's not always fancy night out, but there is real food involved. It not so much that he takes care OF me as much as he takes care FOR me. There's a difference.

Happy Love Thursday!