Born on Valentine's Day

Only the people who are born on a "major" holiday can relate to the downside of having a birthday that competes with a celebration.

When I was a kid my family moved around a lot (being always the new kid in class) so my birthday celebration rarely included friends, only family members.  As a teen it always turned out that I didn't have a special someone when my birthday came around and my friends were usually busy with their own little boyfriends or girlfriends to celebrate with me.

As an adult things only got worse!  I was either in NO relationship making Valentine's day even harder to swallow or I was in a less than meaningful relationship making it awkward for both parties. 

I've never had a problem with getting another year older, just the extra attention (or lack of it) the holiday brings. Sadly it wasn't until my 38th birthday, the first with my honey after having been dating for about 6 months that I truly got to experience Valentine's Day!

I was "in love" for a change on my birthday, not just casually dating someone.  I went out with excitement and searched for a perfect card and gift for my love and could not wait to see the expression on his face. 

My Valentine took me out to a wonderful dinner for my birthday, got me a well thought out gift showing he was paying attention to my interests AND he also got me Valentine's gifts!  Candy and something sexy from Victoria's Secret. I could not have been happier, except...  Except Fate is a sick bitch with a sense of humor as morbid as mine!!!  She gave me for my 38th birthday back pain in the form of 3 compacted disks on my lower back!

On the morning of my birthday as I was getting out of my car: my arms heavy with purse, travel mug, files I had taken home to work on, and a few Valentine's day goodies for my coworkers; I attempted to "swiftly" step out of my car and instead encountered a sharp pain that almost made me drop everything!!  My first thought was "I pulled a muscle"!  I made it up to my office with increasing pain with each step I took.  By lunch time I was having trouble standing.

I met my honey for dinner that evening and by then I had by far exceeded the daily dosage for ibuprofen. Me, the person who hates to take pills and only takes them as a last resort!!  I couldn't stand up straight and could barely walk!

I could go on with a detailed account of the weeks that followed, but the short version is that it was a horrible painful week before I could get any real relief.  My honey spent my birthday weekend with me mostly laying on the floor (because that was the least painful position) watching movies and tending to me. 

He helped me walk up and down from my third floor apartment, dress, in/out of bed in the middle of the night and even went with me to the doctor.  Despite the pain it had been the best Valentine's day/birthday I had spent with a boyfriend!  I got to see the type of man he was/is.  When I had been disappointed by others lack of love/romance on my birthday I was shown what a great person I was now in love with!

We have now celebrated a few Valentine's days together, but our first I will never forget!