My Funny Valentine

Ahh, Valentine’s Day. The holiday of love…an ode to romance. A day of hearts and chocolate.

Our Valentine’s day started out much like yours did, I’m sure. When all in the children were awake we exchanged our Valentine sentiments in the form of candy, cards, and many hugs. Following this, we all did our morning chores, got dressed and hopped in the van for a trip to Mobile and lunch at Chik-fil-A. Who could ask for more?

Michael and I had reservations for dinner at the Beehive (our local coffee shop/bookstore) at 7pm. Had a babysitter, the whole 9 yards. We had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves in Mobile…and it’s always good to get out of town for a bit.

We got to Chik-Fil-A around 12:15, after taking a short detour to Game Stop. Molly had $20 burning a hole in her pocket and decided a new Wii game was just the ticket (it’s some kind of Barbie game…she rides a horse and has to take care of it and stuff. I played it – it’s quite fun).

We enjoyed our lunch and the kids played on the playground while Michael and I read our books. It was nice.

Before leaving Mobile we stopped by Lowe’s. Michael got some seeds for the garden, and in the parking lot on our way out, Mason picked something up off the ground. It had 2 yellow feathers on it. It was a roach clip. And on the end of it was a piece of a joint.

Now, let me go ahead and say on cyberspace, that I have never tried marijuana…but I DO know what a roach clip is, because some kooky time back in the 80’s it became cool to own a roach clip and clip it to stuff. Some girls wore them in their hair. I saw guys with them clipped to their cowboy hats. Don’t ask me why – people just did it. I personally had one that I bought at a flea market clipped to the curtain in my bedroom. I didn’t know what they were used for , but if everyone else was going to have one – I was, too. It was kind of like the Rubic’s cube keychain (which I bought at the same flea market)…it was one of those things you just had if you were a child of the 80’s…and lived in Sylacauga.

When Mason showed me his “treasure”, I just didn’t know what to say or do. Literally, I was speechless for a moment. Finally I said, “Throw that thing down!” then got into the car, and to change the subject passed around a box of tic-tacs and told everyone they could have one joint a piece.

Yes, I actually said that.

On the way home Mason and Ethan were uncharacteristically quiet. Ethan finally fell asleep, but Mason began to moan.

It’s 10 hours later now (11:45 pm). Michael and I missed our date at the Beehive. Ethan has a fever of 101.9. Mason is laying on the couch with stomach malaise and needs me. I’ll be home from church in the morning, and I had to cancel our visit from Caroline G tomorrow.

After his dinner of cold pizza and some corkscrew pasta with a little parmesan on top (and before he headed off to bed) Michael gave me a Valentine card. I jumped up and gave him the card I had bought for him, too. A quick hug, kiss and “I love you…goodnight” was the apex of our romantic holiday.

But it’s ok. It’s kind of silly, really. I mean, we should be cherishing the people we love every day…not just once a year, right?

One side note: I feel I need to come clean on something. It's true that one year Michael gave me a dustbuster for Valentine’s Day. He likes to use that as a self-deprecating illustration, but you know what? I ASKED for the dustbuster. It was early on in our marriage, we were broke, and the thing was like fifty bucks! I told him that with a baby coming we’d need a dustbuster and he could give it to me as my Valentine’s present. So when you think about it, giving me a dustbuster for Valentine’s Day was actually a self-sacrificing thing, with all the ribbing he’s gotten for it over the years.

That’s my Valentine! Hope you had a good one…

Bless ya!