On May 19 last year, I cut open a watermelon, and look what was inside! Can you see the outline of a heart and how the inside of the heart is a slightly lighter color than the outside? Was it just a coincidence or was someone trying to tell me something? Of course, I felt the love!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
People look around you, the signs are everywhere.
You’ve left it for somebody other than you to be the one who to care. ~Jackson Browne
Last year, right before St. Valentine’s Day, I frantically searched through stacks of things I had written. I was looking for the newspaper print of the poem that I wrote for my husband when he was my boyfriend. Our local newspaper has a contest every year for Valentine’s poems. Even though I didn’t win that contest, I saved the entire page of that newspaper, so I thought it would be easy to find since it’s quite large and probably very yellow by now since it’s from the 80s. I was disappointed because I never found it. I really wanted to read it, and I wanted to publish it on this blog.
About a week ago, I was busy looking for something else when I came across the small poem that had been cut out and taped up for all eternity. I’m sure my mother-in-law was the one who thought to save it and tape it up as a keepsake. That little slip of paper was sitting on top of the filing cabinet. I asked my husband about it, and he said he pulled it out of the desk drawer because he found some old pictures with it. I thought it was funny how that little piece of paper showed up right before St. Valentine’s Day.
It’s kind of a corny little poem that I want to share, but it still holds true, and that’s the best part.
Even though you surprise me with fresh fish instead of roses,
I am still thrilled that you are the one with whom I rub noses.
And when you search for coupons when you take me out to munch,
It makes me think you’re thrifty, and I’m glad I’m with you at lunch.
There are times I tire of seeing your blue and red sweater,
But I know I could not find any other man I’d love better.
I am so happy I met you and wish I did earlier,
Because doing so would have made my existence pearlier.
I’m so lucky I found my old Valentine!
Nowadays I usually get roses instead of fish, but this year I got a bouquet of pineapple hearts and chocolate covered strawberries. Yum!
The day’s clouds hung thick and gray. The snow piles were old and melting and blended in with the color of the sky. My mood mirrored the day.
I missed my Dad and Mom on that Valentine’s Day. It was my first Valentine’s Day away from them. I was 20 years old and had moved away the previous summer. I had only moved a mile away! That didn’t keep me from feeling homesick.
I remembered other Valentine’s Days, when Dad would come home from work with two surprise Valentine hearts filled with chocolates: one for me and one for Mom. Each year, the size of the box of chocolates grew bigger as I did. The cellophane wrapper crinkled to reveal a little plastic rose decorating the top of the box. The inside smelled like a combination of paper and cocoa. The thick white wrapper that covered the chocolates and the small brown papers that held each piece were carefully kept in place even after I tasted each delicious piece. I saved the box for months just to open it, remember how it had first smelled and listen to the paper crinkle as I played with and folded up all the little papers.
Now that I was all grown up and on my own, I didn’t expect a surprise Valentine heart filled with chocolates. Though it was difficult, I secretly said good-bye to my Dad’s tradition.
After dinner I got busy washing the dishes, and the telephone rang. It was Mom. She asked me if I had gotten the mail. I hadn’t because I had forgotten all about it. I had been thinking about childhood Valentine’s Days.
After chatting for a while, we hung up. When I went out to the front porch to get my mail, I was so surprised and happy when I saw the very big Valentine surprise heart sitting on my pile of mail. That was a day when I really appreciated all the love and kindness of my parents.
It’s nice to still be a little kid in your parents’ eyes, no matter how big you get!
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