It'll be here before you know it!

Anybody thought about Valentine’s Day yet? If you haven’t, here is your warning that you have less than a month until the day is upon us! For some single people, this time of year can just about bring on panic attacks. You are left to wonder if you will have someone in time, or are you going to be sitting around with other single friends throwing an Anti-Valentine’s Day party.

This year is only slightly different from past years for me. Yet again, I am left wondering if I will have someone on Valentine’s Day. This time it is not a matter of will I have someone; instead it a matter of I don’t know whether he will be home from Iraq in time. :(

Yes people, you heard that right! I may actually have a date for Valentine’s Day!

I don’t want to get my hopes up—Valentine’s Day has never really been my holiday. Even when I have had boyfriends in the past, the day has pretty much sucked for me. So, I am afraid if I get my hopes up and actually begin to think that this is my year, then something will happen and Eric won’t get to come home in time. But, I am not going to be pessimistic about it either. Whether he is here with me or not, I know that he wants to be. But it’ll be so much better if he is!

But, rather than go into sad stories of really bad Valentine’s Days, I am going to tell you about the best Valentine’s Day I have ever had. And funny enough, I was single.

IT INVOLVED ME, EIGHT MEN, AND TWO OTHER WOMEN!!!

Okay, now that I have your attention…. :)

This was a few years back, while I was still living with my parents. I woke up that morning for work and was sick as a dog. I went in to tell my parents that I was calling off work and going back to bed, but they insisted that I had to go to work. I finally gave in and went, thinking that I had the worst parents ever put on the earth. Almost the whole day had gone by, only one hour of work left to survive, and I still hadn’t figured out why it was so important to be there that day. Little did I know, but I was about to find out.

I had gone across the hall to another office and was returning to mine when I passed the elevators. One opened and there stood eight men, all dressed alike. Immediately I started kind of laughing to myself, because I knew that someone was about to get very embarrassed. One of them said, “Here’s a young lady that looks like she knows where she is going,” and turned to me. He asked me if I could tell him where Labor was. I told him to follow me; that was exactly where I was heading. Then he said, “Great! Could you tell me where to find Crystal?” At that point, I went dumb for a second and just stared at him. Surely he had not just asked where I was! I managed to say, “Umm, that’s me actually,” and they all laughed at their good fortune of having run into me in the hall. Next thing I knew, they were following me into my office, where many of my coworkers were already beginning to gather. The office had known all day why I had to be at work, so they were there to watch the show.

The men were from the Kanawha Kordsmen, a group of men who sing in Barbershop Quartets. But wait! I said there were eight of them, not four! Yes, I was so special that I got TWO groups of quartets! I guess technically that would be a Barbershop octet, but anyways.

The men asked me if I knew who had sent them, to which I had to reply that I didn’t have a clue. I guessed my parents, but nope, that wasn’t the culprit. Finally they let me know that it was my two best friends, Christy and Tricia. The two of them decided that even if I was single, they wanted me to know just how special I was. Isn’t that so incredibly sweet of them?

The Kordsmen then sang four or five songs to me, gave me a rose, some candy, a card, and then took a picture of me with them. Their voices were so amazing! My face was the darkest shade of red, but I loved every minute of it! My coworkers loved it too, and it was the talk of the office for a good while after that. Until the day that I had to move my office home, that picture hung on my wall. Now it is packed away for safe-keeping, but I will never forget that day. I am truly blessed to have found such great friends! If you are ever looking for a unique gift to send someone, this is perfect.

Now, a note to you sick-minded people: Shame on you for thinking what you were thinking!!! ;)