Be My Valentine Part 2: Where Were You in 6th Grade?

Valentine's Day is a sore subject for a lot of people. It smacks of commercialism, unfulfilled expectations, and it's a reminder to every less-than-perfect love life that a date on a calendar doesn't guarantee anything but a mean candy clearance sale the following morning.

Thought I'd share the unexpectedly sweet evening Kyle and I spent together.

I call it the Middle School Dream Date:
We started with dessert at Champps because our dinner reservations weren't until 9.
We went to the roller rink. I am not ashamed to admit I pouted until Kyle got me rollerblades because I can't do as many tricks in roller skates. (And I really wanted to impress Kyle with my mad blade skills.)

Kyle held my hand all the way around...

I now know to never listen to Kyle when he says he's bad at anything athletic. After ten minutes, he was skating circles around me, backwards. He even did the fancy skate over skate maneuver on the rink turns. Show-off.

At one point, I shouted over the Justin Bieber blasting from the speakers, "Where were you in 6th grade when no one would skate with me?"

He shrugged, "In 8th grade where no one would dance with me."

I told him how skating had been the highlight of 5th and 6th grade, how I had spent every Saturday morning at the rink under the lights of the disco ball, rocking out to the Space Jam soundtrack. Being in that roller rink was like being in a weird stinky-feet-smelling time capsule. And if Lil' Wayne and Pink had been replaced by the Backstreet Boys and Smashmouth, it could have been 1998 all over again.



Then we had 9 PM reservations at one of the most exclusive Valentine's venues in the city...

That's right. We had reservations at White Castle.

Every Valentine's Day, they close the drive through early and offer a romantic dining experience complete with flowers and candlelight and tiny greasy burgers...

Truly magical. And even though I'm pretty sure my intestines are now at least partially radioactive...we had the best time.

And not to pick on poor White Castle (aka "The Love Castle") too much because after all...our entire dinner cost $11.95...but on our way out, we overheard two couples talking about life experiences.

Woman: So...now I can say I've been to White Castle! Still never ridden in an ambulance, though...

Me: Well, if you eat at White Castle more often, you might HAVE to ride in an ambulance.

Man, I am HILARIOUS.

It was the most perfect date in the history of 6th grade.