Table for Two Anywhere?

Valentine's day has always had a bad omen in our relationship. Sixteen years ago, on the 14th of February, shortly after we were engaged, I was attending winter Bible School and John was teaching school. Our contact was only by phone and mail (email hadn't been invented yet). My mailbox was strangely empty over Valentine's Day. Nothing from my beloved!!! How can this be? My imagination ran wild... John is trying to tell me it is all over between us... maybe something will come tomorrow... He doesn't love me anymore... Well, poor John. He never once thought about Valentine's Day until he recieved my life-sized card in the mail. He rushed to the stores that evening only to find that all the cards had been removed from the shelves and Easter cards were taking their place. The next day, in desperation, he sent me a big bouquet of roses... which of course I should have loved... and they were gorgeous... but somehow I couldn't forget that they were one day late... Well, since then, John has never forgotten Valentine's Day. He hasn't dared. But it doesn't mean everything goes as planned. And last Valentine's Day was no exception. He arranged for everything (almost) and off we went to find a romantic restaurant with a table for two. Well, in our town of 36,000 the options are quite slim. We went one...two...three fine restaurants, only to discover all of them had no room for the evening. All the tables were reserved. What in the world? There were no restaurants left to try. What should we do? Ok, fine, pizza would do. So across town we hurried. As we drove past the front door, we saw the crowded entry way. We couldn't get pizza to take out to a park in the middle of winter. What should we do? The only decent place left was a fast food chicken restaurant. There were plenty of tables (no wonder! What other couple would reserve a romantic supper-for-two at Kentucky Fried Chicken?) We ordered at the counter and found a little private table in the back of the place. We were enjoying at least an evening together, when the owner came through the restaurant and placed little half-burned tea lights on each table. Nice try, I thought. Who can make atmosphere happen in a McDonalds? We couldn't help it. We looked at each other and started laughing. It was really too funny. Yesterday, but I had to think of it and grin, when John remembered with consternation that he had rescheduled his yesterday classes for tonight, Valentine's Evening. At the moment, he couldn't think that we usually have plans on Tuesday eveings. Well, if he would have consulted his daily planner that he faithfully keeps, he would have seen a short note "Don't forget Valentine's Day" to remind him of important issues of the heart. As it turned out, ironically, there was no need to reserve a table for tonight. Maybe... next year??