Bradley's Buzz

Do you remember being in elementary school and making Valentine's, putting the little candies into an enevelope and then into the handmade boxes lined up against a wall, always hoping you get a Valentine from that special person? Well I do! The excitement of wondering how many valentines you get and who gave them to you was really exciting. Years later and that feeling is replaced by going to the night club and trying to see how many numbers get put into your pocket - not exactly the same thing.

In 1998 I moved to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho a week before Valentine's Day and as luck would have it, they just happened to have opened a gay bar a few months before hand, so on Valentine's Day, the bar put together a huge shindig complete with white table cloths, flowers and the whole to do. Thanks to the bar, I met a lot of great people in that little town and it was on that night under the invite of my one and only new friend in town, Rebecca, that I ended up meeting Patrick and Colleen - the Weenis if you will, one of the most interesting women I've ever had the privilage of meeting. We bonded that night over complete bitterness and it's my favorite Valentine's memory ever.

Not that I don't have complete love for my new life as a not so bitter happily in love Bradley, but it occured to me this year as the holiday approached that the Leivas buys me stuff all the time, and more importantly he loves me and appreciates me everyday. It's a very strange thing to say and to realize.. so now I'm the complete opposite of what I used to - gone is the giddy child waiting for a Valentine from an admirer, gone is the bitter bitch who would throw ice at couples happily making out and now instead I'm just part of a happy normal couple completely in love with my boyfriend. What a bore!

But don't worry cause we still have plans to spend some quality time together - I know he bought me a present and so it's only right that we go out to dinner but should you think we're getting all dolled up and spending gazillions of dollars on a romantic dinner in a place jam packed full of new lovers and old lovers trying to rekindle that flame, we are heading to the Mexican cabana known as Aculpoco, a chain Mexi place that serves giant margarittas. Because after all, no matter what holiday it is I deserve to drink.