Valentine Special Edition

A Special Valentine Moment…

I walked out of the house to a dusting of Valentine snow this morning, but it was soon to melt off. My first thought, “Thank you son for sending your love from Heaven.” As we drove away from the house I remembered another Valentine Day, sometime in the mid 90’s. At the time I had a good decorating business with Home Interiors & Gifts and that particular year I decided to sell silk rose bouquets. I presold them a few weeks prior to the big day and part of my service was to do the deliveries on Valentines. I had already gotten each person to hand write the note card that would go with the bouquet. I recall being really excited to deliver seven 1-dozen rose bouquets to unsuspecting women that day. I felt crushed to wake up to more than 2” of snow that day. Doesn’t seem like much to most people, but to a young woman about to deliver roses on Valentine’s Day it was definitely an obstacle to overcome. I didn’t have a four wheel drive at the time, but I did have front wheel drive and felt pretty confident to make most deliveries. I also recall being pretty lucky that day, because seven deliveries turned into only two deliveries. I began getting phone calls in the morning and each of the guys requested that due to the weather and roads I bring them to their work instead. Score! That was only two deliveries because all of my customers were employed within two companies! That was a blessing and the following day, I received seven phone calls from some very happy and surprised women.  Even though I shared this story with Dillon, I don’t know that he found it half as enjoyable as my memory of that snowy Valentine Day.

That memory led to another memory; my MOST MEMORABLE VALENTINE’S DAY ever. I believe the year was 1992 or 1993, but I could be slightly off on that. I had recently been to the Annual Home Interiors Rally and they had just released the illustrious 500 Merit hostess gift: the Floral Garden Mirror. That mirror was a gem and a booking dynasty! Well, Bill (my hubby at the time and BJ/Bryan’s dad) really liked the mirror so I decided to get it for him for Valentine’s Day. That was only the beginning of my shenanigans! Folks, when you have kids at home you sometimes need to get creative to have some couple time and sitters aren’t always at your fingertips. So, I put my Valentine plans into motion and they included my boys. I had a couple of partition walls, (you know, the type that are in office cubicles),  in my office so I used them to create a smaller space in my office and to cover all my decorating displays and office “junk” that often get tossed here or there. I pulled in a quaint little round table, hung the mirror on the faux wall, and set a lovely table for two with lots of candlelight. The boys…oh, that was the joyous part! BJ and Bryan were around 10 and 7 at the time, Valentine’s Day was midweek, and I thought how fun it would be to have them be our waiters; so they were! I cooked the meal and kept it warm in the oven. My office door was shut and the boys directed their dad to get in the shower and get ready for moms surprise to follow; Bill obliged…without too many questions. While he was in the shower, the boys dressed in the outfits we picked out…black or dark blue jeans or pants, a white shirt of some sort, and I attached a backwards dishtowel to them for a waiters/bar towel. It’s called improvising friends! I say backwards because I wanted it to be white, not a print. I then drew little mustaches on them (no Dollar Store mustaches available back then) and they were set. They met their dad as he finished his shower, escorted him to the bedroom where he was to dress in the clothes set out for him, and then they escorted him to our “dining room for two”. I surely wished I had a camera to snap a picture of the amazement on his face. They pulled out our chairs to seat us, brought us our cocktails, and then continued with dinner and dessert service. While Bill and I had a romantic dinner for two in our restaurant, our sweet little waiters had dinner in the main dining room. I will always treasure that memory of the perfect Valentine Day for a family of four.

I shed a few happy tears today at more love in the form of snow, more memories of a wonderful family time, and thoughts of knowing my boys have all three grown up in a house where they know love is the foundation to a happy life; even though all three didn’t grow up together. At moments the memories grew too deep and then I shed a few tears of missing the ones that are no longer with us on earth. I felt immensely blessed that Dillon insisted on giving up his Wednesday night with his GU (youth) group to go out to dinner and spend the evening with mom. I am a lucky mom to have been blessed with my three wonderful boys; my lifelong Valentine’s.