My Best Valentine's Day

I know y'all think this is going to be some mushy diatribe on the romance of marriage. And marriage is romantic. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. Married people have Valentine's Day all locked up. I want to talk to those who don't have a sweetie on this festival of Love. That's a lonely place and I'm here to help.

The best Valentine's Day I ever had was at a time I was profoundly single. I was living in SF; not really a target-rich hunting ground for the single straight girl, ya know? I was lonesome in a big city, working quite a bit and had no plans and zero prospects for V Day. My roomie Clay was also tragically single and we decided, what the hell? We don't have plans, let's go do the prix-fixe dinner at my hotel.

We got a bit fancy and headed out. The lovely folks at Roti always rolled out the red carpet for me and my guests; blowing past the crowd waiting in the lobby, we were immediately shown to our reserved table and plied with champagne. The room was full of couples at candlelit tables, all foofed up, and many looked rather tense. In contrast, Clay and I were fabulously relaxed (talk about no pressure!) and being attentively looked after by friends. The manager stopped by to chat. The chef came out and had a glass of wine with us. By this time, we were beginning to be the recipients of glances and murmurs, many of the expressions  a bit puzzled. Clay and I put our head together and whispered to each other, "Who are they?" "Are they famous?" "Should we recognize them?" We actually started to feel a bit sorry for the couples on their nerve-wracking dates.

After a few hours of wallowing in superb food, excellent wine and decadent desserts, we made our way home in a glow of contentment with the universe.

Romantic? You bet it was.