Whether it’s going all out with a giant box of chocolates and two dozen roses or spending the evening in with a frozen pizza and Netflix, Valentine’s day can be celebrated in many ways.

Regardless of how many boxes of chocolate acquired, sources agree that Valentine’s Day is about spending time with that special someone.
Two SHS couples tell of their favorite Valentine experiences from over the years and what the special holiday means to them.

White Castle Date

Seniors Bailey Fields and Jacob King have been together since May 2013. In the past three Valentine’s Days they have spent together, last year’s, which was spent at White Castle, was the most special for the couple.

Their first Valentine’s Day together was significant. The couple celebrated with candy and a game of bowling. Both say they were nervous since it was a night full of pressure, and they both were under pressure to impress the other person.

Now, after dating for nearly four years, the couple enjoys Valentine’s Day by celebrating in a unique way and with one another.

“What makes Valentine’s Day special is doing something unique,” King said. “Anybody can get a box of chocolates and roses, but doing something unique makes the occasion much better.”

Even though White Castle isn’t a five star restaurant with gourmet food, King believes that the price spent isn’t the most important aspect of the holiday but rather the company it’s spent with.

“A candlelit dinner with sliders and onion chips can be just as romantic as some fancy restaurant as long as you’re with the right person,” King said.

Fields agrees with King that the most important part of Valentine’s Day isn’t the material aspect but who you’re spending it with.

“I think the quality time spent with your date is most important,” Fields said. “Flowers and chocolate are cute and flattering, but flowers wilt and chocolates get eaten. If you go out and do stuff, you’ll have fun memories that you’ll remember later on.”

Engagement

Math Teacher Kathleen Kundel and her husband, Tyler Kundel, have been together for 26 years. To this day Kundel still cherishes her most special and memorable Valentine’s Day.

When Kundel was a junior in college, her husband proposed to her in her apartment in Kalamazoo, Michigan at Western Michigan University.

The two were struggling college students at the time and Kundel worked and studied full time. Her then boyfriend even had to rely on scholarships to pay his way through school. Because of their demanding schedules and their less than stable financial situation, the engagement was unexpected and exciting.

“At that time, both of us were poor college students,” Kundel said.“We had no money.”

Kundel and her husband had been together for four months prior to the engagement, but they both knew that they wanted to get married before he left for the military later that year.

“He had just scraped together money,” Kundel said. “His grandfather helped him, which was really nice because otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to afford (an engagement ring).”

Through the years of their marriage and the many Valentine’s Days since their engagement, Kundel cherishes her engagement ring and that special night very much.

“It’s really small, but I will never trade it for anything else because at that time, it just tells us from where we came from to where we are now,” Kundel said.