Someday I will be able to write about what has happened over the last month with humorous detail.  I know I’ll be able to because a few weeks ago, Justin and I had dinner with friends and recounted certain moments aloud and had everyone in the room hysterical with laughter.  For right now, I think the timeline of events below will speak for itself.

 February 13, 2009:  A normal Friday, we go out to dinner with Gordon and Jess.  We cannot find a parking spot so Justin returns the car to our apartment and walks to the restaurant.  It is 25 degrees and the zipper on his coat is broken.

 February 14, 2009:

10:00AM: Justin wakes up with a sore throat. 

10:15 AM: He goes to get a glass of water and finds a notice under our door.  It reads (essentially) “construction will begin on your apartment the last week in February.”

11:30AM:  Both sets of parents have been consulted on the apartment issue and an email is sent to our landlord.

11:45AM:  Justin goes back to bed (he has a fever)

5:15PM: Landlord emails back to say she is out of town but didn’t know about the construction and will be in touch.

7:00PM:  Dori goes to pick up chicken soup from Zaftigs and gets hit on by an older man who presumes she is single, out by herself on Valentines Day.

10:00PM: We’re both asleep.  It’s snowing. What a shitty Valentines Day.

 February 16, 2009: Dori talks to Elizabeth  - – she and Jon are engaged!!!  There is much excited screaming (Dori) and smiling (both).

 February 17, 2009: Dori talks with the condominium association manager to confirm aforementioned construction.  She learns that (essentially) they will need to move out.

 February 19, 2009: Justin returns to work, though he is still sick.

 February 20, 2009:  Dori goes to New York to meet Sarah and Nicki for a girls weekend.

 February 21, 2009: Two very cool NYC attractions are seen:  Sex and the City Tour  and Broadway Show: “The Story of My Life”. more…

(this is a very delayed posted…meant for Valentines Day)

Our first Valentines Day fell on a Friday.  I was in my last semester of graduate school at Frostburg and Justin was, as you already know, was “spinning his wheels” at Galyans.  Each weekend, I would drive home from western Maryland and work 3 shifts at the store between the chaos of classes, my internships and job searching.  Each Friday, I woke up feeling a sense of pure excitement – - the kind of excitement that you can probably recall feeling when you were a kid and it’s Christmas Eve.  You have a WHOLE DAY to live through until the big day and it seems like it’s going to be unbearable, but, at the same time, the waiting and the curiosity about how it will feel is somehow exciting.  That is how Fridays were for me.  And so, inevitably I would try to make each Friday go by as fast as possible so that I could get on route 68 headed east and to the store, to see “Ase.” Friday, February 14, 2003 I would rush through my day, accepting valentines wishes and heart shaped cut outs from my students, I would eat lunch with my counseling mentor, and leave promptly at 2:30 to get on the road headed east.  However, I did not have my usual weekend bags with me; no laundry to put through the machines at home, no Galyans nametag in my purse.  I drove eastward home, picked up “Ase,” and we made the trek back to Frostburg together.  It was the beginning of a weekend that would change our relationship from “we think we’re just having fun” to “we think this is way more serious than we thought.” 

To put our first Valentines Day into perspective for you, Justin and I met in November, 2002.  As you know from previous posts, our “first date” occurred somewhere between December 24th – January 12th.  So, this weekend fell just over a month after our first date.  In the time between our first date and Valentines Day, we had a handful of lunch dates, a few dinner dates, some looong phone conversations, and lots flirting over IM.  I don’t remember much about the drive from Frostburg to Gaithersburg but I can surmise that I was probably driving a little too fast, was probably listening to the Dixie Chicks and singing at the top of my lungs and probably made at least one pit stop at a Sheetz to fill up and grab a soda.  Folks after you drive across route 68 to route 70 to route 27 as many times as I have the trips all blur together.  Only a few of the probably 300 or 400 of those trips stand out in my mind.  This day is one of them.  I had picked up Justin at his parent’s house; he was all ready with his overnight bag and several grocery bags full of mystery food that would later be used to cook an impressive dinner.   I was so excited to see him.  It was a nervous kind of excitement that accompanies a newer relationship and if I had to guess, I think he probably felt the same way, though he tends to hide that type of thing much better than I do.   more…