Young Love

This week, my mind keeps wandering to a Valentine's day many moons ago. I was in my second year of college at Utah State and had recently started studying with a very sweet mustached young man. (I can't say dated, because we never really dated. I just met him at the library almost every night.) We had gone on one date shortly after winter quarter started, and were together as often as we could be after that first night out. We were still at a slightly awkward stage as neither one of us had said the "L" word yet. I wanted to do something special for him for V-day, but I wasn't quite sure what to do. I didn't want to come on too strong and scare him away. But I wanted it to be clear that I really really liked him a lot. My mom was a cake decorator and suggested a decorated giant heart shaped chocolate chip cookie. After the cookie was baked and cooled, I stared at the cookie for what seemed like hours, with a bag of red frosting in my hand, trying to write the right sentiment on this cookie. "I like you," wasn't right. "I think your great," didn't cut it either. I was too terrified to write what I really felt. I finally commited to start writing before I could chicken out. I stood back and looked at my creation. "I _____ You!" There I did it. No I didn't write the "L" word. I used the safe alternative, "heart", but I didn't spell it out, I drew a frosting red heart.

His gift to me was bit of a mystery to me. A Valentine card showed up in my apartment. It had my name on the front. When I opened it, their was no name. It was signed but not with a name. For a brief moment I thought I might have a secret admirer. When I asked my sweetie about it he denied knowing anything about it. I was confused, but let it go.

That quarter I got the best grades of my college career, Fell madly in love with that sweet mustached young man and told him so. The next year for Valentines day I opened the card given to me by my new husband. On the bottom of the card, it was signed "Love, Me." The same as the card given to me a year earlier. Mystery solved.



It is now twenty years later and I couldn't make a cookie big enough to express my "heart" or love for that same not-quite-as-young and unmustached man. Sappy I know, but true.