SCV residents share their funny, romantic and just plain sweet Valentine's Day memories.

"I think I was in the sixth grade when I had a crush on a girl in my class. As Valentine's Day approached, I bought a card for her. It was very expensive...probably 50 cents. Do you know how many baseball cards I could have bought with that? I think it said something very romantic, like "Be my Valentine." On the big day I took the card to school to give to her. Alas, she was absent. Since she lived down the street from me, I decided to drop it in her mailbox when I went home. As I approached her porch, her mom emerged from the house, greeted me, and explained that her daughter had the flu and stayed home from school. As we talked her daughter came to the door in her robe, looking like someone who felt terrible. We said our hellos and I handed the valentine to her. Shy lad that I am, I'm sure I was bright red with embarrassment as she opened the card. She read it, looked up at me with a funny expression, seemed to turn green and rushed away. In a moment I heard her loudly vomiting in the bathroom nearby. So much for romance. I shoulda bought the baseball cards!" ~Dennis Lynch

"Our first Valentine's Day as a couple was very special. On February 1, Terry brought me one red rose to work. On February 2 he brought two, on February 3 he brought three, and so on... 105 total by Valentine's Day. It was the sweetest and most original thing that has ever happened to me." ~Melissa Farrell

"My husband and I met at work and started dating two months after the death of my brother in 1997. To this day, I still feel that my brother was watching over me during those very hard months following his death because shortly after that, Michael came into my life. We got married on Valentine's Day in 1998 because we fell in love when we least expected it, during a time when I thought that my heart was completely closed forever! Don't ever think that love cannot just smack you in the head and, most importantly, in the heart - because it can hit you like a ton of bricks when you least expect it." ~Lea Centeno

"I proposed to Paul on his 50th birthday, which happened to be February 14. We had a big party. He's a clown, so I hired a clown to do party tricks and balloon animals. It was a "kids" party, complete with 1960's toys for presents." ~Kristine Fagan-Merrifield

"I was single for 15 years, and my husband Ed proposed to me on Valentine's Day 2008. We will be married for three years on March 29, 2011. Valentine's Day will always be a special day for us now." ~Dawn Hovhannisyan

"I was about 19 years old and in college at Cal State Fullerton. Based on the advice of a fraternity brother, I took a girl to this very high-end restaurant in Newport Beach called Cano's Seafoods of Mexico for Valentine's Day. We got very dressed up, had the valet park the car... It was very sophisticated. When they seated us and we started looking over the menu, I realized quickly that I had nowhere near enough money to cover anything we might have ordered. I had totally under-anticipated the cost. After a brief bout of date panic and a few stalled minutes of "What the heck am I gonna do," I finally just told her the truth. She couldn't have been nicer or more understanding. I'm not sure anymore as to how we made our exit. It could have been the old, "You go to the bathroom, then I'll go to the bathroom and we'll meet out in front" type of thing. It was pretty embarrassing but it all worked out in the long run. The girl, Valerie, eventually married me and I never made that mistake again." ~Ed Masterson