Many Valentines celebrations have included a lovely dinner
out….sometimes at a Sweetheart Banquet or among a group of good friends with
whom there has been abundant laughter. Some years, including this one, my honey has
given me a beautiful arrangement of flowers.
Some years in our youth, the evening ended with me donning some special lingerie. But, there have been other years when kids
were sick or something unexpected made a shambles of our plans.
This year, my 96 year old father-in-law is living with us,
and he can’t be left alone. I didn’t
want to ask anyone else to come and stay with him lest I mess up their
Valentine plans. So, I used Valentine
napkins on the table, had my husband grill a steak out in the snow, made the
meal colorful with fresh strawberries instead of a salad, and served a very
pretty store-bought Valentine cake. I
don’t remember when I have ever purchased a cake instead of making one….but this
year is different. We are both tired and
stressed. We spent last evening in the
ER with my father-in-law.
When we signed on for a life-time commitment to each other,
we knew that every day wouldn’t be like a page from a romance novel. If we had consciously thought about it, we
would have known that every Valentines Day would not be special “us” time. Tonight we are sitting on the sofa…each of us
on our laptops. My father-in-law is
listening to his favorite channel on TV…which is NOT our favorite channel. He has headphones on, but the sound is still
so loud that we can hear it through his headphones across the room.
But we still have what we did sign on for…doing things
together, supporting each other through tough times, keeping a sense of humor,
and extracting whatever sliver of enjoyment we can from whatever life throws at us.
Happy Valentines Day
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