Will you be mine?

My most memorable Valentine’s day was during my second year of college in Seattle. His name was Bradley. We worked together as writing tutors in our campus Writing Center, and we were working the 7 to 9 pm shift that evening. Not surprisingly, there were no students for us to help that evening. It seemed everyone else was with his or her sweetheart. Bradley jokingly asked me if I would be his Valentine, and I responded by handing him an extra plate of cookies I hadn’t managed to deliver to some other friends yet. “I baked them just for yo,.” I said with a smile.

The two hours went by rather quickly, and Brad and I gave each other a hug and went our separate ways. I had to make a detour to the neighborhood grocery store, so it was after 10 pm by the time I got home. As I walked out of the elevator and turned down the hallway, there was a strange illumination on the mat just outside my front door. As I got closer, it was a flashlight pointed on a single yellow tulip, with a hand scrawled note that read, “Thank you for shining some light on my day.”

I still have that flashlight. In fact, it’s in the top drawer in the kitchen of my apartment here in Stockholm.