Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine, Christian martyr, supposedly sent a letter before his execution signed "From your valentine."  And that's we buy chocolate and roses today.

Now to be honest, we don't celebrate this day of love at our house.  In any noticeable way.  (Is it too sappy to say that we celebrate our love every day?  Probably, and only somewhat true.)  But I thought that in honor of the day I will tell you about our first meeting.

We both lived at International House in Berkeley.  I visited there last fall and wrote about it here.  As in any dorm, many romances occurred.  More than 500 couples are listed on the I House: A Home to Romance website.  There were even residents whose parents had met and married at I House.  That seemed a little creepy to me and early on, I vowed that wasn't going to happen to me, no matter how many cute guys lived there.

However, fate decided to laugh at that promise, and about twenty five years ago on the patio below I met the man that I have been married to for more than eighteen years.

Although the photo is quite dark, the patio is often sunny and peaceful.  We both remember that at the table that fateful day was Jesus, a Spanish speaking graduate student that we both knew.  Nothing particularly important happened at the table, nor did we start going out immediately, but we both agree that was the first time that we actually spoke to each other.

Not an interesting story, no conflict.  That came later in the relationship. Thankfully, it's all roses and chocolates now.  (Not really.)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!