A Late Date Remembery

Because this has been a nutty week, I have procrastinated quite a bit on my Valentine's Week posts, but do not fear! I can pull together at the last minute and deliver!

(Besides, Pete got me a gift that hasn't arrived yet because they're shipping it from upstate, lakeside New York, I'm positive. We're both running behind schedule!)

But this is about a remembery. Last year's Valentine's Week ended with a very memorable date, one of those that just gets to live in your heart (or at least mine) for a very long time.

I love ice skating, but I hadn't really gotten a chance to watch any of the Olympic skating last year. But my husband (who actually hates ice skating because it's not HOCKEY) decided that I needed to see some.

We got in the car with me not knowing where we were going. As we were discovering my Valentine's Week gift to him (the soundtrack for the new Pride and Prejudice), I was trying to figure out where we were going. When we hit the exit from I-66 for the Metro Station, I realized that he was taking me to D.C.

From there it took one good guess to figure out where he was taking me; if the little girls in various Disney princess costumes didn't give it away, the long-suffering looks on their father's faces did. We went into Chinatown to the MCI Center to watch Disney Princesses on Ice.

This was random to me, but very cool. Last time we'd been at the MCI Center, it was for a hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Washington Capitols--I wore Pete's extra Leafs jersey as we sat practically on the top row of the stadium, overlooking the entire rink. I thought it would be so cool to be able to see the ice skating from there.

But we didn't go to the top.

In fact, we kept going down, down, down, past little Cinderellas and little Belles and little Jasmines and little Sleeping Beauties with their parents and their sparklers--down to the very front row, next to one little girl with no costume. I was in shock. I still don't know how much he paid for those seats.

Now, those of you who know me only a little may think this next part is odd, but I became a little girl again that evening. Pete just watched me as I reacted just like all those other little kids who were there, swept up in the music and the beauty of the skating. It wasn't Olympic-quality, but it was really cool to see people doing what I've only ever dreamed of doing myself!

My favorite skate was the Mulan "Reflections" skate, a solo skate done by a girl in a soft purple costume, but we enjoyed watching Ariel "lose her fins" as Eric swept her around the rink with no skates--the lifting and choreography was absolutely amazing! I never imagined that I would get a front-row seat at any sporting event, let alone a figure-skating event like that.

I think it's one of my favorite rememberies--it was an awesome Valentine's gift!