I screwed over Valentine's Day

My favorite Valentine's story of all time...

The internet peaked when I was in high school, and I was totally riding high on the wave of communicating with strangers.

I started chatting with Oklahoma when I was 15. We connected in a chat room and hit it off instantly. I'd say I'm a pretty good judge of character by the style of writing in an email, and Oklahoma seemed like a great guy. I would get very excited any time I got an email from him. I felt like I had a secret relationship.

We chatted for a very long time and he asked me for my address so that he could send pictures. I trusted him (and thankfully was correct in judgment), so I gave him my home address. I got the pics. He was HOT! Conversation continued.

About a month or so later Valentine's Day came along, and I received a phone call from a local flower shop in my town. They had a delivery of red roses for me coming at 2pm. I flipped out and jumped for joy at the same time.

You see... Valentine's day happened to fall on a Sunday, so BOTH my parents were home. As a 15 year old Indian girl, I'm not supposed to date.

I didn't know how I was going to handle this. I didn't even know who was sending me flowers!

I casually told my parents that "someone" was coming around 2pm. The cryptic message worked against me. They couldn't stop asking questions. I didn't give answers. My father kept running to the window when he heard a car come down the street. I had to stand guard at the front door.

Finally the delivery guy game. Both my parents were directly behind me as I opened the front door... only a crack. This was it. The flowers were coming towards me. I had no plan. I was going to get in trouble and get shipped off to a convent. My life was soon to be over. (Gawd, being 15 sucks).

And then it all came together at the last second.

I saw the card sticking out of the flowers. When the delivery guy handed the vase to me, I ripped off the card and shoved it in my pocket. I twirled around and handed the flowers to my parents with a big "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY MOM AND DAD!!!!"

Typical dad commented on the absurdity of spending so much money on flowers. My mom on the other hand was overjoyed... tears in her eyes.

I was in the clear.

I ran upstairs to my room, wiped off the sweat and opened the card.

"Half a dozen now. The other half when we meet"- Oklahoma

I was so happy... but exhausted. I went back downstairs, flipped on the TV and decided I wasn't going to move from the couch.

My mom came in to watch some TV with me. When the show ended, she asked me if I wanted to go to the mall. I really did not want to move, so I said no. She kept pressing me though, and I gave in.

At the mall my mom bee-lined to American Eagle, took this puffy vest I had been coveting off the rack and went straight to the register to buy it. Just the other day she told me it was too expensive and impractical.

She bought the vest for me as a Thank You for the flowers.

I probably should have felt guilty, but let's be honest... I scored three times on the same holiday.

A romantic gesture from my secret man gave me beautiful flowers to look at on the kitchen counter, I pleased my parents, AND I scored the coolest puffy vest to show off at school the next day.

I OWNED Valentine's Day that year and I'll never forget it.

10 years later, I still have the card from Oklahoma... and I still wear my puffy vest.