With Luck, Love’s Labor Wasn’t Lost

Oh, Valentine, how beloved you are that such brilliant blossoms and sumptuous sweets declare your sweetheart’s undying devotion today. If only you knew how close you came to getting shut out. Maybe it’s better that you don’t.

Hours before the holiday for lovers, procrastinating Casanovas were out in force Saturday, searching for something, anything, for their darlings. The greeting card dregs, the wilted flowers, gift certificates, stuff that belongs in Valentine hell, got scooped up in the last-minute rush.

It gets ugly at the 11th hour. Some shoppers have that look of urgency, rushing to grab a box of chocolate like it’s the last parachute on a flaming plane. Mayday!

“That’s the way I always do it, last minute. Do you got a problem with that?” one gruff man said brushing through the crowd at The Esplanade in Oxnard with, what else, a red box of chocolates. There’s a lucky lady out there somewhere.

And then there’s the shame, deep and red like a long-stem rose. “Oh, no way, man, no, no, no. I ain’t gonna talk to you, uh-uh, not me,” a guy in a long line at the See’s Candy store said, shaking his head and hiding his face.

Valentine’s Day seems to sneak up on men more than women. The holiday never changes dates, but many guys just can’t seem to shop on time.

Kyrsten Wilde at the Candy Castle balloon and flower shop in Oxnard has seen men try to get in under the wire, even the steel gate in the mall store where she works.

“We had one guy who came to the store, and the gate was down and he pushed it up and crawled under it to buy something,” Wilde said.

At the Ventura Farmers’ Market, Anna Wenn of Oxnard was selling flower arrangements about as fast as she could make them, mostly to men.

But amid the tardy are many noble hearts--men and women who just got caught in a time crunch. They make valiant efforts to be respectable Valentines.

Richard Contreras of Ventura is one of them. He blitzed the mall Saturday and in one fell swoop bought his love, Julissa, jewelry, clothes and chocolates.

“For her, it’s just like Christmas all over again,” Contreras said. “I always do it like this, last minute. I work a lot, and this was the only time I had. I already knew what I was going to get, so I just went out and got it all at once.”

At Passion Flowers Gifts and Collectibles in Ventura, Laya Gavin popped in after a long stay out of town to buy her sweetheart, Henry, half a dozen white roses.

“The stores are open tomorrow. I’m not quite last minute. There’s still time,” Gavin said, dashing into her car.

Inside the flower store, Jim Colborn’s calm demeanor belied his anguish at last-minute shopping. He ordered a bouquet of red roses and tulips for his wife, Jennifer. Outside, his daughter, Holly, explained: “He came here thinking it’s too late to buy flowers. He was so worried. Every past year he’s gotten flowers three or fours days ahead, and this year he was afraid he wasn’t going to get her something.”

Sometimes, the best things are worth the wait. The gifts are fine, and Colborn said his wife will be pleased with her surprises, but he said they are small tokens of a deeper devotion.

“If I had to show the value of what my true affection is,” he said, “I’d have to begin shopping the day after Valentine’s Day.”