My Worst Valentine's Day!

I’ve shared with you the best, so let’s look at one of my worst Valentine stories.

Several years ago, my husband and I met a very nice couple from Boston. After going out together a couple of times, we thought of them as “friendly acquaintances.” Unfortunately, they considered us their new best friends.

They started talking in January about celebrating Valentine’s Day with us – the plan was to go to a great casual Italian Restaurant! First, I really didn’t want to go out with another couple on Valentine’s Day.  Secondly, we far preferred elegant dining.

Obviously, I wasn’t the least bit interested in spending Feb 14^th with them, but I didn’t really know exactly what to say. I didn’t want to hurt their feelings

About a week before Valentine’s Day, I fibbed. No, I lied – I told them we had company coming, so we were going to have a quiet evening at home with our guests.  They were disappointed, but understood and went to the Italian Restaurant themselves.

We, on the other hand, actually went to the Ritz for dinner – at our favorite table tucked away in the corner. The maître d and wait staff knew us well and we were greeted with complimentary champagne the moment we arrived.

As we sipped our champagne, our server delivered a bottle of Dom Perignon – a bottle we didn’t order. Initially, we thought it was from the manager, but the waiter was clear that the gift was from our “secret admirers” who were there that night.

Well, I looked around to see someone we knew – maybe our son or one of my sisters. Nope. You guessed it – there were our “best friends” sitting there grinning. Let’s face it, I got caught. I went over to their table with a lame excuse that that couple cancelled at the last minute. It was the best I could do. We invited them to join us and they obliged. Boy was I ticked and embarrassed.

I replayed this scenario for years afterward and I discovered two things. First, honesty truly is the best policy. (If that same thing happened today, I’d simply say, “we prefer to spend Valentine’s Day alone.”)

I also realized that our friends knew exactly where we dined. They never enjoyed fine dining; they preferred really casual places. It was not a coincidence that they showed up at the Ritz. Oh no, they were checking out my story. In reality, they got exactly what they wanted – to spend Valentine’s night with us.

So, while I received a massive case of “the guilties,” that Valentine’s Day, I also got a bottle of DP.

All in all, lesson learned and champagne enjoyed!