Did I Enjoy My Day?

Did I enjoy my day?  This is a great question being that today is Valentine's Day and we all know how I really feel about Valentine's Day.  

Subtle, right?

So, I did giggle as I wrote this poem and stuck it with some candy in SG's lunch.  I pictured her opening it and rolling her eyes, maybe smiling a little and then sharing the candy with her friends.  She would know I loved her and was thinking about her, even if it was in a lame poem kind of way. The boy got some too and he told me that I "Wowed!" him with that.  This was enjoyable.  I also like that a friend plagiarized my poem for her own kids' scavenger hunt.  It made me feel famous!

My coworker is a nut about Valentine's Day and she took it upon herself to make me just love the day.  Beginning on Monday, every time I left my desk when I returned, I would find Valentine's gifts on my desk.  Candy, candles, notes which read "Rebecca, Happy Valentine's Day!", but the best were the pick-up lines.  She turned my desk into a display of pick up lines.  They were funny, they were terrible, they were printed on pink paper and they were everywhere!  My favorite?  "My love for you is like diarrhea, I just can't hold it in."  By the end of the week, my desk look liked I was the one who loved Valentine's Day.  The fact that she had one of our office aides hang all of these ridiculous styrofoam hearts directly over my desk did not help.

This one says "Marry Me."  I threw out the one that said "Boy Toy".

Alright, slightly enjoyable.

Our group of favorite kids alternated between dressing up for the day and dressing in black for the day.  They all looked great and complimented each other on their outfit, red or emo, and made each other things. (Me?  I went emo.)   They made me stuff too and not only did I enjoy that, I LOVED IT.  I also laughed that kids I don't know all that well knew my feelings about Valentine's Day and gave me candy with the same rushed remarks about "too bad about not liking Valentines." I also got some quality time with a few of my favorites and got to dispense my wise advice and they made me laugh and, yes, I did enjoy that too.  

There were a lot of romantic gestures of love out there in high-school land today.  Boys strode in with their arms loaded with flowers, candy, stuffed animals.  Our library gets crowded in the morning - 300 kids on average - but I watched one boy with a giant bear get across the sea of people like he was walking on air because his eyes were focused on his girlfriend the whole time.  Beautiful until the PDA tongue kiss I had to shout down.  I heard one boy who is not one of my favorites encouraging another boy to write what was in his heart.  What?!?!  Interesting, I thought.  I did not see anyone crying in corners or openly weeping as I had feared.  Of course, I did not get out of the library once today, so who knows what went on in the hallways.

My own romantic gestures of love will have to wait as Bill is stuck in Dallas for awhile and having a bad time of it.  He has had a terrible day and I am not enjoying that.  I did promise him a new juicer as a token of my love and his voice perked up a little.

We had a dance in the library for our Life Skills kids  (Special Needs) and their Amigos.  These are regular kids who make a point to get to know the kids in Life Skills and say hi to them when they see them in the hall and spend time with them when they can.  It was awkward, like any teen dance.  We had a few dancers, but mostly some standers and some huddle up and gigglers.  Did I dance?  You know I did.  One boy made me a Valentine that said I was nice and pretty.  Enjoyable.  The absolute best part though?  There is one boy who doesn't talk, doesn't do much and has a bathroom incident at least a few times a week.  This absolutely beautiful girl came up and asked him to dance with her and he shot out of his chair to comply.  The look on his face was so happy I had to walk away to my desk for a minute because, um, I may have been moved to tears.  But just a little.  Don't worry, I was back chasing down kids who were skipping and trying to hide out in the library and was kicking them out within a few heartbeats.

I know, you are waiting to see if the Grinch's heart grew three sizes today.  Drum roll please.............. No. I still hate Valentine's Day.  I still hate red roses, I still hate convenience store stuffed animals and the absolute canned and forced romance and I definitely hate thos hearts above my desk.   However, I do love the crazy people I work with who go to great lengths to show me up and laugh while doing it.  I like that showing up with lipstick on makes people react as though I am wearing a crown.  I love my group of kids who make me laugh and teach me new words and how to really use the apps on my phone.  I love that my boy thought I was "impressive" during my workout and I love waiting for SG to get home from her dance so I can hear all about it.  I love my wonderful husband and hate that he is out of town period, not just that he is out of town on Valentine's Day.  

But, the question that was asked was did I enjoy my day?  Yes, I did. I did enjoy my day.  And I will really enjoy taking those damn hearts down on Monday too.