I have some other stories I want to share that occurred before Valentine’s Day, but since it is that time of year I think I’d like to jump ahead to this one first. 🙂

Joseph and I had been seeing each other for about five or six weeks at this point and I was having the best time of my life.  I’d only ever dated anyone during the beginning months of the year, and I’d never had a real Valentine.  Sure I’d exchanged gifts with girls before, but nothing even somewhat serious or romantic.

I was a bundle of nerves as I worked up the courage to ask Joseph if he would be my Valentine and go out with me for Valentine’s Day.   I remember sending him a text, looking at the read receipt, and watching him write back in real time (iMessage really can mess with your mind).

He said “Yes!  Of course I will! 😀 .”

Immediately I began planning for this monumental event (for me anyway).  I started looking at Groupon and doing research around what would be going on around the city.  I didn’t want it to be too cliche, this had to be special and romantic.

Joseph would be excited no matter where we went, which was one of my favorite things about him.  I wish I could properly describe how pure, genuine, and loving his heart was.  For a lot of our time together I’d always be worrying about planning things just right, making sure to properly organize.  Joseph would always just tell me that as long as we got to spend time together he was excited, and that’s all that mattered.

All that being said, this had to be perfect, duh.

So I started going on OpenTable.com and checking out what reservations were available.  I finally settled on a restaurant I’d only been to a few times called The Stone Cliff Inn.

One of the best parts of this place was how far away it was from Vancouver, where Joseph was living.  This meant that I was able to hold his hand for a good 40 minutes on the ride there!  Joseph and I always held hands, and I would constantly get frustrated with my car since it was a stick shift.

I knew there was a park nearby too, so I figured we could hang out there first.  There was a really pretty little creek at the park, and we went and walked around and Joseph took pictures of the ducks.  It was nice to just walk around, relax, and talk.

We went to the restaurant and Joseph was super excited to see the inside of the lodge.  We each ordered a glass of wine and had some delicious food.  I don’t quite remember what the menu was, but they had some kind of 3 course meal that we each had.  I remember thinking that this date was really an important step for me since it was the official day of romance and here I was sitting with a beautiful guy.

After dinner we headed to our next destination, Helium Comedy Club.  There were a couple of acts, one local comedian and a headline that I had seen on some Comedy Central specials (I don’t remember their names either, I’m the worst haha).  They were both hilarious, and Joseph was cracking up with that adorable laugh the entire time.

We walked around downtown for a little bit after that, which was one of our favorite things to do.  I never spent much time exploring the city before I started seeing Joseph, and now I constantly see things down there that remind me of our time together.

I took him home and he gave me a big hug and kiss, and made sure to tell me to text him when I made it home.  What a night!

Happy belated Valentine’s Day to you sweet guy, thank you for giving me a night I’ll never ever forget!