text: “Yes thank you, you have a great day as well.” I hung up the phone and ran my fingers through my hair. Feeling the scabs left behind by the chemicals and my own incessant scrubbing, I was so damn grateful that the lice had finally vacated my head. When you’re a parent, you become used to the dirty little things that get passed around classrooms. Chicken pox, the flu, the common cold, pink eye. But Maria had never brought home lice until her 3rd grade year, and I would pay one MILLION dollars if it meant never having to deal with the disgusting little blood suckers again. Did you know that lice actually prefer a clean head to a dirty one? I didn’t. In fact, I had spent the last 3 months learning exactly what lice are, what they like, and how the hell to get rid of them. Over the counter treatments hadn’t worked. Old wives tales like coconut oil hadn’t worked. What did finally work? Mayonnaise. Yep, I slathered mine and my daughter’s thick, dark Turkish hair with a chunky layer of mayonnaise. The online instructions said to leave it on for 8 hours, and by the end all of the lice and their eggs had been suffocated. It had been over 2 weeks since the last spotting, thank GOD. Sure, we winced every time we got the slightest smell of mayonnaise, but a small price to pay. If I had to get down on my hands and knees one more time to clean our small 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house from top to bottom, I was going to lose my mind. My phone rang, pulling me out of my grossed out haze, and Travis’ sweet face popped up on the screen. I smiled. Tonight was our big date. “Hey you.” “Hey sexy.” “What’s going on?” “Oh, I just wanted to call and triple check that you have seen NO lice in your hair today and we are clear to keep our reservation for tonight.” I laughed. Yes, we had been waiting a while for this very rare date night. But Travis had been more exasperated at the thought of missing our date due to the lice than I was. I just wanted the damn bugs gone. Romance was the furthest thing from my mind when I was pulling little fat creatures from my hair. He had it easy, as soon as he saw the first bug, he shaved his head, and had kept it short ever since. “Yes Travis, no lice I promise. I’m very much looking forward to our date.” “Me too, me too. I can’t wait for the food, it’s gonna be DELICIOUS.” “Yeah, I can think of other delicious things too... if you know what I mean.” Rare date nights also meant other forms of intimacy were... rare. I took every chance I got. “Yeah yeah, I know what you mean. Don’t get me too excited.” Can you hear someone blush? I felt like I could. “More than anything, i’m looking forward to quality time with you. No parenting, no responsibilities.” “You could say that again!” My office phone rang and I rolled my eyes. “Speaking of responsibilities... that’s my line, so very sadly, I have to let you go.” “Hey, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I’ll see you tonight.” “It’s a date!” I thought I was so clever. We giggled and got off the phone, and I promptly picked up the landline. “Thank you for calling Sky High Balloon Adventures, this is Ariana, how can I help?” Most days I loved my job. How many people can say they get to work for a hot air balloon company for a living? I knew how lucky I was and I cherished every moment. Except for that day. That day I was watching the minutes on the analog clock slowly tick by. My night out couldn't come soon enough. Hours crawled by, and I answered phone call after phone call. Some were people who had 100 questions about hot air balloons. “How high does it go?” “How many people are in the basket?” “Do I get to choose where I land?” “Are there parachutes?” Some were people who just wanted someone to fight with. “I have called 5 times and you never answer the phone. I shouldn’t have to leave a message, a successful business should be available!” Or “What do you mean the weather isn’t safe to fly? How much do I have to pay you to fly? I don’t mind a little rain.” And then there were just the people who were so happy to be checking a cool adventure off of their bucket list. Those, of course, were my favorite calls. It was decently busy, and I breathed a sigh of relief when the clock finally struck 5pm and it was time for me to hit the road. I had meant to leave a little early so I could take my time doing my makeup, but time had gotten away from me. That’s all right I’ll just put on a little mascara and blush, I thought to myself. Travis was not one of the guys who needed me to be all done up to see me as beautiful. He had a way of making me feel confident even when I was sitting on the couch in the same dumpy t-shirt from the day before with my hair in matted tangles. “You’re so hot,” he’d say with widened eyes. One of the many reasons I knew I had a good one. By 6:30pm I had made it home, gotten ready, and we were heading out the door. Plenty of time to make our 7pm reservation, the restaurant was only 15 minutes away. “Damn... rainclouds. I guess we won’t be sitting on the patio.” Travis winced and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “It’s the middle of February,” I chuckled. “I have to say I wouldn’t want to sit outside anyways.” He looked at me and smiled, slightly relieved, and he grabbed my hand in his. I sighed, something so simple could feel so loving. We parked in the overflowing lot and made our way inside. A young blonde hostess in a black, v-neck cocktail dress greeted us. “Welcome! How can I help you?” Travis stepped forward. “I have a reservation for 2 at 7.” “The Fraser party?” “Yes ma’am.” She looked down at her screen, then looked at Travis pensively. “I apologize but we overbooked ourselves on reservations and have had to add a 30 minute wait to all reservation times. You’re welcome to go wait at our bar and we’ll call you over as soon as your table is ready.” Travis huffed. “Seriously? You couldn’t have called us ahead of time and told us that?” The hostess closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Sir, I know this is a special occasion for you, I promise we’ll do everything we can to make it right.” “You better,” he muttered under his breath as we made our way over to the busy bar area. “Travis, it’s fine. We’re out without Maria! So rare.” He flagged down the bartender. “2 shots of Jack please, with 2 glasses of water. Thanks.” A burly man with tattoos poking out from underneath his pressed suit's sleeves nodded. I put my hand on his arm. "At least we’re together.” He looked at me and smiled sheepishly. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I just want tonight to be perfect.” He paused. “Like you said, this time is so rare.” Reaching up on tip toes, I kissed his cheek. The bearded man returned with our drinks, and we took our shots of Jack like pros. We spent the next 30 minutes talking about our day, sipping our water, sharing funny anecdotes from our experiences in customer service. We were swapping stories and laughing when the hostess timidly approached us. “Mr. Fraser? Your table is ready.” His whole disposition had changed. Maybe it was the Jack. “Fantastic! Lead the way.” She lead us to a small circular table set in the middle of the dining room, red and black booths lining the taupe walls. “Is this okay?” Travis looked at me expectantly. Damn he is so thoughtful . After years of living with me and my social anxiety disorder, most of the time he knew how to meet what I needed in the moment. This was one of those times. I was so grateful. “It’s perfect.” Something I would have said even if it wasn’t. “Just like you,” he quickly came around to pull my seat out for me. I hung my purse on the back of the chair and took in all the surroundings. Tables were full of couples, young and old, mixmatched and twinning, kissing and flirting and laughing amongst themselves, tabletop candles flickering gently in front of them. Romance was certainly in the air, and the vibe alone made me swoon. I was lost in my own love cloud when the waiter came to the table. "Good evening! My name is Seth and I’ll be taking care of you. Our specials tonight are....” He went on to describe the Surf and Turf, the Valentine’s Day special: a lobster tail paired with filet mignon and their signature sauce. My stomach growled and I was thankful no one but me noticed. We gave our drink orders and in a moment he was gone. “I’m so glad we could make this work,” Travis seemed relaxed, finally. “Me too, I’m SO glad those lice boogers didn’t ruin our once in a blue moon date.” “EW. Don’t bring those little shits up. I could go the rest of the year without hearing that word and I would be just fine.” “No kidding... me too. I’ve never cleaned so much in my life.” “Well, if there’s one thing for sure, our home would be in shambles without you.” I blushed as Seth returned with our drinks. He placed a Bloody Mary in front of me and I winced. Just from the smell I knew that it was full of Vodka. “Come on man, she said virgin. She’s sober!” Seth looked at me in horror. “Oh I am so sorry ma’am. Let me get you a new one. It'll be on the house. I’m so sorry!” He quickly took the drink off the table. “It’s okay, really. He gets protective. Mistakes happen, no rush.” I gave my most reassuring smile. He nodded gratefully and hurried off with the incorrect drink. Travis looked into his lap and clenched his hands together. Why was he so tense? “Did something happen at work today?” “No, why do you ask?” “Just asking...you seem off.” “No, I’m fine! Actually I’m great.” A longer than comfortable moment of silence stretched between us. I had to switch it up. “Can you believe this is our 10th Valentine’s Day together?” “Man.. it has been that long.” He smiled to himself. “Time flies with you.” “Do you remember the one where we left Maria with my dad and snuck out for a midnight showing of Deadpool?” “Ah yes, the perfect romance movie.” “For real, what more could you want? Action, comedy, hot steamy romance. Endless buttered popcorn.” “What about when I surprised you with a Broncos Super Bowl jersey a few weeks before so you could have it for the game?” “Ugh, I LOVED that jersey. Now the Broncos starting the Super Bowl with a safety... that I didn’t love so much.” “God, I remember how inconsolable you were in the bathroom afterwards. I couldn’t get you to stop crying!" “What can I say, I love my team.” “Maybe a little too much.” “Maybe.” We both laughed and Seth returned with the virgin Bloody Mary I ordered. “Here you are miss. Again I express my deepest apologies.” “It’s really no problem, we’re having a great time, aren’t we Travis?” “Yes we are, thanks for making it right man.” Seth quickly took our order, but he didn’t write anything down. I ordered the special and he just nodded, he asked me how I wanted my potatoes prepared and he just nodded at my response. I have always been amazed at wait staff that can remember everything like that. Meanwhile I can’t even remember if I turned the straightener off at home. He hurried off with our orders, without writing a single thing down. “You know, I have to say my favorite Valentine’s with you are the ones at home on our couch with a bowl of chips watching episodes of Survivor.” I brought my hand to my mouth, blushing again. “Me too babe. It really is the simple things I love the most.” “I agree. Dating apps and profiles and all that other riff raff, life can be as simple as meeting your person in high school gym class.” “I still can’t understand what you saw in me. I was angry to be there, angry my mom made me change schools. My black hood pulled over my head, scowl on my face, I was definitely giving off a ‘leave me alone’ vibe. ” “But that was the last thing I wanted to do. ‘Leave you alone’. You know what vibe I thought you were giving off? Moody, complex, and downright beautiful. I had to talk to you.” “Who knew that would lead here?” “I had a hunch,” he giggled. “To us,” he held up his drink for a toast. Our glasses clinked and as we made eyes, taking sips from our respective beverages, I couldn’t help but to think how lucky I was. I certainly didn’t know from that day in gym class that we would end up here, living in a different state and parents to our beautiful daughter. Celebrating 10 years of Valentine’s together. What we have is one in a million. My thoughts were interrupted when the most beautiful lobster tail was placed in front of me. We didn’t speak as we eagerly ate our delicious meal, occasionally looking up and smiling at each other, or offering our fork for the other to try. The night ended too quickly, and in a flash we were walking out the front door. Time with Travis felt so special, and as parents it was not often that we got to feel like humans outside of our roles as ‘mom’ and ‘dad’. It was my turn to grab his hand this time, and I looked at him and smiled. He didn’t meet my gaze, and began messing with the tie around his neck. The rain gently sprinkled above our heads, leaving dark marks on my long, lavender dress, but I didn’t mind. We reached the middle of the parking lot when he stopped. He dropped my hand and took a deep breath. He pulled a navy blue jewelry box from his pocket. My stomach sank. Is he about to do what I think he’s going to do? No, he knew how much this scared me. He knew that the only relationships I’d seen growing up were my mother’s 4 divorces and my absent dad I saw twice a year. Why does anything have to change? Things are good the way they are! I could feel my hands shaking. Put down the walls Ariana , my therapist’s voice rang in my head. He got down on one knee, black slacks dipping in the water streaking the parking lot, looking up at me. He popped open the box, revealing a glistening silver diamond ring. “I know this scares you. I know the only example you’ve ever had of marriage is destruction. But I was raised by 2 people who love each other deeply. Who were dating for a month and knew they wanted to be together forever. And are now celebrating over 30 years as husband and wife! I’ve seen how beautiful marriage can be when it’s right.” He paused to emphasize his words. “And I know we’re right. I so wanted tonight to be perfect to prove it to you. But you made me see that we don’t need perfect. We never have. In fact, it’s simple. I know you’re my person. There is no one else, there will never be anyone else. Ariana, will you marry me?” All the fear that had been making my heart race melted out of my fingertips. I could feel tears in the corners of my eyes. No one had ever loved me like this. This man was kneeling in a rain puddle and dealing with all my baggage and insecurities and he STILL wanted to marry me? It seemed pretty silly now that I’d ever been afraid at all. That I’d ever thought we were anything like my parents. The answer was obvious. “Yes, yes, a thousand times YES.” He picked me up and spun me around as he let out a triumphant ‘YES!’. The rain was coming down harder, crawling its way down our cheeks as we kissed. Thunder boomed and we laughed. I looked into his eyes. He began to babble. "Wow, so we don't have to get married right away, we can take as long as you want. It can be whatever you want! Hell, we can go to city hall. We can have the longest engagement ever! I'm just so happy you said yes and..." I put my finger to his lips and smiled. “Perfect is so overrated. We'll figure it out. All I know was this night was everything I could’ve asked for.”