Blip on the Radar or...what?

So first off, I'd like to make any of my gal pals feel better about St. Valentine's Day by letting you know that things could really be worse. For instance:

I mean, really. That happened. Wendy Davis makes me mad, so we're not gonna talk about her a lot right now but...Again, really. Things could be worse. You could be a Wendy Davis supporter.

(P.S. If you ARE a Wendy Davis supporter, first of all I don't really know how you ended up here on my blog but I imagine it's a fascinating story so second of all, we need to have some words. If you want to have a conversation about this please feel free to message me. If you don't want to have a conversation, message me anyway and you don't have to tell me what you think since it's not supposed to be a conversation but I could tell you what I think since you DID message me and actually, I would probably enjoy that more anyway. So, ya know, whatevs.)

But anyway, I have this theory. Well, I have a lot of theories, but here we are to discuss one in particular.

It concerns St. Valentine's Day.

Now, the girls are groaning because I mentioned "it" and the guys are all, "What, is that happening already? What is today? When is that again?"

I'm not saying this because of any man-haterness, really. I try to keep my man-hater levels low. They're lookin' pretty good today. I just really think that happens. I had that theory before, but then this morning something happened that not only gave my sweetheart and I a good laugh, but proved my theory. For the record, he stated it proved my theory.

My theory is this:

For girls (in general), in January St. Valentine's Day be like this:

This is a radar. With a bogie on it. And whoever's screen this is, they know EXACTLY where that bogie is, the speed of its approach, the size of its magnitude, and the potentiality of its chocolatude. (As in, the possibility it's bringing chocolate. Or not.)

For guys (in general),  in January St. Valentine's Day be like this:

This is a casual shrug. As in, a casual shrug. 

Because, dude, we got time.

So, my Valentine bogie has been blipping away in the radar screen corner of my mind there for a while. I started a 30-Day novena (St. Joseph for THE WIN) and was pleasantly surprised to see the 30th day was, ya know, February 14th. I have begun to plot who shall be The Box Getters of the year. I started getting stuff for Valentine cards yesterday. I know riiiiiiiight where that blipping bogie is.

I wrote a post about it last year. Out of all the many, many blog posts I have written (hardy har har) that post snagged one of the highest numbers of page views ever. It was pop-yoo-lar. Lots of single girls I knew had lots to say about it.

But a few things have happened since then. In fact, just three weeks after I posted it, I met a guy. Actually, a man. I knew a lot of guys. And then I met a man. At the beginning of February I snarkily wrote:

"I think most Catholic girls know when Ash Wednesday falls in relation to St. Valentine's Day...Because [maybe] they're in a relationship with a Totally Rad Catholic Dude and want to know if they'll be able to eat the Very Expensive Chocolate he's definitely going to get them (if he's smart, but he's Totally Rad so obviously he's smart enough to know Very Expensive Chocolate is in order)."

So, three weeks later I met the aforementioned man, and a week after that he arrived at my family's home to meet them before taking me out on our first date. After we got in the car (don't worry, he opened my door), he handed me a little gold box, and said with a twinkle in his verrrry pleasant-looking blue eyes,

"I read your blog, so, I thought some chocolate was in order. Sorry I was late."

*aside* You guys, I know! Right?

*ahem*

So, fast forward alllmost a year, and duh, he is still around because, duh, you just do not let guys like that go. Especially if they will not leave when you try really hard to drive them off. Those are the ones you wanna keep keep keep.

Which he didn't. So I did. So here we are, as I was saying, alllmost a year later, and he came to my work this morning to keep me from losing my humanity on this day, being January 22nd, with which I have a love-hate relationship. One of the sundry tasks of the morning was to go get a cake for a co-worker's birthday. We walked into the store and I spotted some of those yummy fluffy sugar cookies they have in (ladies, you prolly know the ones) and they happened to be covered in pink and they happened to be heart-shaped. And they happened to be in the middle of a pink-and-red display which I have already grown accustomed to spotting in da stores.

Me: "Aww, how cute!"
Sweetheart: "Is that for Valentine's Day? Already?"
Me: "Of course, it's only a few weeks away."
Sweetheart: "When is that? February 14th?" *shrugs and grins* "Oh, I have plenty of time."
*pause*
Me: "You just proved my theory."

After explaining my theory, he laughed (he has such a delightful laugh) and agreed my theory was sound.

Of course, then:

Sweetheart: "I was late last year. But you don't have to worry about this one. You can look forward to it." 
Me:

Anyway.

The point of this was, I had been thinking how I was feeling about Valentine's Day last year. I definitely had my moments of dread as it approached. But since last year, not only do I know my sweet Alex, I've been part of two weddings. These weddings happened for beautiful Catholic women whom I knew before they knew the men who are now their husbands. I remember the conversations full of longing, full of frustration, full of fading hope. Both of these women were serving faithfully in the waiting times, and struggling to hold onto the promise that God was going to provide for the dreams He'd placed in their hearts.

For each of my friends, God did send a very fine man. A man who was even more than had been dreamed of. A man who offered unconditional, godly, Christ-honoring love.

Both of my friends had beautiful weddings. It brought profound joy and peace to my heart to be a part of those special days, and to know my precious friends were walking toward holiness with such partners.

If you're still in your waiting time, please let me encourage you: God has a more profound desire for your joy and holiness even than you do. Sometimes His timing seems long, but I trust it is perfect. Hold on for it.

And in the meantime, it really does pour joy into your heart to put together some boxes. :)

P.S. Supposedly Pantone's Color of the Year is a big stinkin' deal - had no idea - but now I do, which is pretty rad since 2014's is "Radiant Orchid". I feel like that's about as much excuse as I need to use Plum in my valentines, so I am. So there. In any case the point is, ya know, be creative if you like that kind of thing. Which I do. And if you like that Pinterest thing, do that too, cuz eventually you should really do some of that cra-I mean, uhm, crafts, that you pin. Or whatever. Pinterest confuses me. I just wander around Hobby Lobby in a happy daze and try really hard to buy no more than 25% of the things I think I HAVE to have. Currently I am thinking pearls, lace, and the aforementioned Plum, so if you have some crafty ideas you love, do tell.