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My past two Valentine's Days have been awful. I know myself well enough as a dater now that "not doing" Valentine's Day is a dealbreaker if you're a guy dating me (semi-seriously, that is).

It's not about the extras. I don't want them. It's about thinking a girl is special enough for you to set aside other plans and just spend time with her on February 14th. Each of the guys I dated ended up getting dumped not too long after they made me feel just not special at all on V-Day. This year I was so nervous to bring up V-Day with the guy I'd been dating for six months, only to have it taken off the table when he decided he didn't need me anymore. We stopped seeing each other just weeks before V-Day, and one of the first things I thought about after the breakup was that I wouldn't have a valentine!

However, as I am a woman who likes to make things happen, not only have I met a new incredible guy just days after my breakup, but we also have a casual Valentine's date planned. On one hand, I'm excited, and on the other, I'm feeling a little awkward and under pressure. I don't want to ruin our vibe though - we had a fantastic first date and we were both really excited about our next. But how the V-Day date got scheduled is just embarrassing...

We were trying to figure out when to see each other next, and he threw out a couple days he'd be free this week, including the Thursday that happened to be V-Day. I thought maybe it was a hint that he wanted to make plans to be my special valentine, so I tried to take the awkward burden off of him and broach the subject myself. I texted him, "We should do a Valentine's date...It would be fun!" I sweated and panicked and second-guessed myself nanoseconds after I pressed send, then heard back, "Oh really, that's Valentine's? Didn't even realize." He asked if that would be awkward (since we just met) but we agreed to keep things super chill, so I think I'm excited. Two weeks ago I was freaking out about not having a valentine...but now I'm freaking out that he might feel awkward! Privileged girl problems, I know...

I'll let you know how this goes, and don't worry, I won't deprive you of the juicy details about our first date either!