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I have been working on making a ton of Valentines today and it reminded me of last year. *sigh*

Flashback:
I give out Hershey's hugs and kisses for Valentine's day every year. Last year, on the eve of V-day, they only had hugs on campus, I think. It was geting late and I needed to get a couple of bags of kisses so I was deserately looking for someone who had a car or was headed to Walmart or some place. Walmart is about 45mins to an hour away from campus. Pretty dang far.

I was about to give up when I found out from my friend Erika that Jared was AT Walmart. Perfect! At that time I had met Jared nearly a month ago and we hadn't done much more than talk on the phone (yes, even though we lived 2 tennis courts away from each other) and hang out - like eat dinner in the caf together and stuff. I found out only much later that Jared was actually at Walmart looking for something for ME.

So Jared got me the kisses and delivered them close to 3am or something (you know J-Bo, you need to correct me, my memory is fuzzy and I'm infamous for getting my details mixed up) it was raining pretty hard and he was waiting for me outside the entrance to the dorms.

He gave me the kisses and a little thingy. A valentine.

Didn't let me pay him back in cash, so I think I asked if he could pay him back in kind. Hah. His mind whirred, I had no idea. He was about to ask for a kiss - of course I didn't know that. I ended up giving him a hug instead. And one of the first Valnetine's I had completed making that night. Along with the chocolate

I wrote on it something to the effect of "For now, I can only give you chocolate hugs and kisses. For real ones, call 792-1731 (my number then)"

I had planned to write that on all the Valentines I gave to guys, but I got lazy. It WAS very late! Jared ended up being the only person who got that.

In his Valentine was a Hershey's nugget thingy (mmm yummy) and a pic of little dog "You're doggone cute." I just grinned and grinned.

Next day, Valentine's day. I got red roses in a vase from Matthew (we had already broken up and it was painful) and a TON of sutff and flowers from a guy named Johnson who was trying to date me. I had turned him down for a date that night with some lame excuse that had to find out what my friends were doing that night. Hah. Yeah sure.

I sure felt like a princess though.



You can see J-Bo's little blue Valentine stuck on the cabinet door. I still have it somewhere along with the notes that came with the flowers.

I kept the yellow roses from Johnson for a couple of days and gave them out to some girlfriends. I figured they were going to die anyway, might as well make someone else's day with them.

Guess what ended up doing that evening? I fell asleep after work (I take too many naps!) and didn't wake up till 10-11pm. AAAAH. I desperately called people up to see if they were doing anything. I think I talked to Jared on the phone that night too.

I'm not sure if it was in that conversation or maybe later, but Jared told me he had finally decided how I could pay him back - I could go on a date with him. I was excited of course. We made real plans only a few days later. It's hard to go anywhere without a car, you know.

On that date, guess what? He brought out the Valentine I gave him. He had thought it was a coupon and managed to redeem it for our first kiss (I had missed kissing so much, he got lucky). So much for my talk about not kissing on a first date.

Last year was a great year.

This year, I'm single and available again, with no prospects, and no one to be excited about. I'm going to miss Mark more than ever today as much as I'll have a good time. I already am. We would've spent it together this year. If only I had made it back.

I hope Matthew doesn't send flowers to Hawaii. I didn't tell him that I got left behind in KL. Or did I? I don't know. As long as he doesn't know where I am, he won't be able to send me anything. He hasn't missed a birthday or a V-day so far. Even after we had broken up. But as nice as it is to get flowers, I'd rather not get the guilt that comes with them too.

Maybe I should just go out and buy myself some flowers. Yeah, why not?

I wish I had bought some from the wholesaler earlier to give them out. Shoot. I used to do that. How could I forget?!