Okay, I know I am late in posting about Valentine's Day and half of you are probably sick to death of Valentine's posts, but I really felt like sharing this with you guys, because for me, Valentine's Day this year had a deeper meaning.
My regular readers would already know that Jake (the boyfriend) and I are undergoing a massive transition period this year, but for the benefit of my lovely new followers (hi guys!) I will give you a little back story as to why Valentine's Day was so special for Jake and I this year.
Not many people know this, but I am Jake's first girlfriend. He fell in love for the first time when he was 20 years old, and I am the lucky girl! I've felt at times like this might be a bad thing - like he might want to see what else is out there, or might just fall in love with someone else some time, and this scares me to death, but after 20 months together, I am starting to realise that this guy is committed to me and he is in it for the long haul! This has especially been proven since January, when we signed the lease on a unit together on the Gold Coast.
Jake and I have known this move was coming for a long time, as this is where I am going to Uni this year, and have been looking for a job for him since October, with little luck. Finally, the time came where we just had to start looking for somewhere to live, regardless of whether he had a job or not, and eventually we got this place even though he still hadn't found a new job.
Being a student, I am broke as a joke. That's just the way it goes, I guess! So Jake having a job is soooo important to keeping us both alive with a roof over our heads, and that is where our strange situation comes into play, and where Valentine's Day changed for me from an overly commercialised Hallmark Holiday to a special day to show Jake how much he means to me.
Right now, Jake and I are renting a unit in Coolangatta. All costs are split in half, and my Centrelink money just covers my half of the bills, rent, food etc. All of our furniture is here, we took Jake's bedroom stuff, bought some office stuff and I contributed the rest, BUT Jake still doesn't have a job up here, and so he has been forced to keep on working in the Byron Bay area where we used to live, staying at his parent's house through the week. This means, although he is basically still living at home and is only here on the weekends, he is still contributing the majority of his pay to the rent, bills and food here. He is also spoiling me rotten, buying me clothes and taking me to dinner and the movies nearly every weekend because we miss each other so much through the week and are trying to cram in twice as much quality time on the weekends, and he feels guilty for leaving me by myself all through the week in a new place where I know no one and have no car to get from A to B.
This living arrangement has been incredibly hard on both of us. Even though we both lived with our parents before the move, we still saw each other at least 5 days a week, and stayed at each other's houses most nights. So basically, we see less of each other now that we are "living together" than we ever did before, and it's hard. I swear, come Thursday every week, I am completely overwrought with loneliness and emotion, and cannot wait for Friday afternoon to bring me back my boyfriend. I know that sounds pretty pathetic, but it's true. I'm here completely alone Monday to Friday, so seeing that one familiar face on Friday afternoon is just the most amazing thing in the world. I used to think that I liked my own company. I still do, but I realise now that 5 days straight of it is not good. As well missing each other excruciatingly, we are both feeling the financial strain that independence brings, and Jake is feeling guilty from leaving me here all week. So basically, this last month has been strange and wonderful and hard, and that is why I so desperately needed to show Jake how much he means to me this Valentine's day.
I thought long and hard about what I could do for Jake that would show him how much his love and support means to me without costing too much. I was down to my last $30 to last me a week, and needed whatever we did to be cheap! I straight away ruled out going absolutely anywhere, because I was adamant that whatever we did, I would pay for it. All week I had been blowing Valentine's Day off to Jake doing my best to seem disinterested so that he wouldn't plan anything big, or buy me anything and it almost worked! When I called him on Thursday night and he was out drinking with some friends, I lost it a little though, and blew my cover by crying because he was out with mates and I was home alone on Valentine's day. He ended up turning up on Friday afternoon with chocolate roses (the best kind!) which I am sure were last minute, but which I loved anyway, to say the least.
Then, it was my turn to surprise Jake. He came a little early, so everything wasn't quite ready, but he loved it anyway so I was thrilled!
I made him a card with a picture of a classic hollywood couple on it, and the caption "Honey, you make me swoon!" and decorated the dining table with a photo collage of us on the wall above it. We always have fake flowers on the table, so I left the decorations at that and worked all of Thursday afternoon and Friday on preparing a yummy home cooked meal of grilled snapper with lemon and cracked pepper, cheesy cauliflower and chorizo-stuffed zucchini halves with parmesan cheese on them. For dessert I made mixed berry tartlets with x's and o's out of leftover pastry adorning the top, with whipped cream to serve. We ducked out before dinner to get some celebration drinks, Kahlua for me and Coronas for Jake and we were all set!
Even though we ended up eating in front of the TV, Jake really appreciated all the effort I went to to make the night special, and he told me that he "would rather eat what I had just cooked him than go out to dinner any day!" which is a massive compliment from Mr Convienience who usually hates waiting more than 10 minutes for food!
Having Jake come early ended up being kind of convenient because my electric mixer broke halfway through whipping the cream and I hadn't finished preparing the main meal, so Jake got the lovely job of shaking the container of cream till it whipped itself! Haha :)
All in all, we had an amazing night, and whole weekend for that matter. I am so blessed to be loved by this amazing man, and I have a feeling that he feels the same about me, even if he did have to ask me what swoon means when he read the card I made him :)
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