Valentine's Eve

Nothing quite like 9:30pm, on the night before Valentine's Day at a Duane Reade. Everyone sifting through what's left of the cards, candies, and other various trinkets; trying to find the right thing- that card, that box of chocolates that will spell out just how they feel about their Valentine. I admit I was amongst the throng last night, but the great pressure lifted from me, as my wife and I are going away in a few weeks to the Carribbean- and decided that would be our Valentine gift for eachother. So, I was there for a card- hopefully one to make her laugh- and a couple silly candy gifts to celebrate the day.

But for many there, this was their chance to get it right- to impress, to win over that special someone. Macho guys fumbling with akward stuffed puppies and bears clutching some object with a profession of love scrawled accross the front. Girls tearing through cards, trying to found that one that's not-so-mushy-yet-this-is-how-I-feel. I felt the frantic, yet productive vibe of my partners in V-eve shopping. There was one fella that didn't know what to do though, and he had some girl on speaker phone on his cell talking him through it. It was confusing to me, though, what he was looking for and who he was buying for.

"All there is is wife wife wife," he shouted in into his phone, "no cards saying like, I'm glad yer my girl or nothing.." The girl's voice on the other end came out of the phone distorted and impatient. At one point it seemed like she was composing a letter herself- although it was unsure if she was composing it for herself or for our friend with cell phone. "You are writing all this stuff down right?" he would chime in, and then say hold on and unsuccessfully try to click over to another incoming call, which he announced was coming from a private ID. Without much success in his search for the "You're my girl" card, and with Gina, who we came to understand was the girl on the speaker phone, not much help in his opinion- he decides to call his cell phone provider and listen to the automated voice tell him how many minutes he has used since his last billing cycle- all on speaker phone, of course.

I wonder if the poor guy found what he was looking for, or if he got any sleep last night. And I wonder if Gina, playing Cyrano to his Christian, got her words through to him. Or whether she found her Valentine on this day. Who among us hasn't felt like Gina, or felt like calling to find out our used cell phone minutes while card shopping?

The story has a happy ending for me, I got what wanted- a smile from my wife this morning as she found the silly stuff I has procured. And for Gina, cell phone guy, and others challenged by greeting card holidays- my heart goes out to you. And it's my true heart- not a pink heart being clutched by a stuffed blue elephant.

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Unrelated, last night I saw a Dominos Pizza delivery guy- pizza to be delievered in hand- going down the stairs to subway. Hadn't seen that one before, and dammit if I couldn't get my camera phone up in time to catch it... "In 30 minutes or less, or blame the substandard public transit"- I guess could be the new slogan.