The Way We Were

Happy Valentine’s Day!

You can tell Valentine’s Day is near because of the huge increase in Facebook posts where our friends are celebrating their spouses.

This week, Tom and I have definitely taken a few strolls down Memory Lane, remembering some of our most epic dates and the restaurants we used to enjoy. So many of them aren’t around anymore, including some of our favorites like Steak and Ale, the Brown Derby and the Red Bull Inn, but especially the Joshua Tree. Oh, how I miss those lovely days of prime rib and sangria… and the prime rib cost only $6.95!

Here’s a funny dating story that Tom probably won’t appreciate, but here goes… 🙂

When we were first dating (I was just a mere girl of 19), one of our favorite dining spots was the Joshua Tree restaurant, just across from South Hills Village. I loved that place and all our wonderful memories that came to be associated with it.  Unfortunately, at that age, I had a condition my doctor called a spastic colon; basically, every time I would get nervous, anxious, or even just happy and excited, I would get physically ill and unable to eat.

Back in those days, I only saw Tom once a month, so naturally I would build up a lot of intense emotions focused on that next date. We would start out our evening sitting down in this beautiful restaurant and ordering our prime rib. But the anticipation of being together on the date would do its work, and by the time my dinner came, I would take one bite and then push my entire dinner across the table over to Tom, with a look on my face that said, “You eat it, Hon. I can’t.”

I’m sure right now you’re thinking, “Now why would Tom have a problem with bonus food?”

Well, another promotion that the Joshua Tree offered was a free carafe of sangria for each diner. I never could drink mine, so Tom got to enjoy my sangria as well as his own.  On one of our dates, by the time we got to the parking lot after dinner, the effects of the extra sangria had inspired Tom to reenact Gene Kelly’s famous scene from “Singin’ in the Rain,” as he sang to me while dancing around and swinging from a parking lot lamppost. I thought it was adorable, and I often wish had a picture of it. (Tom, on the other hand, is grateful that I don’t!)

After 44 years of being together, that night will always be one of my favorite memories of our early times together, remembering how Tom was so endearing, going out of his way to be silly just to make me laugh.

With Valentine’s Day coming up this weekend, I would love to hear your own favorite stories about you and your Valentine.  Just drop me an email!