So, we are not the most romantic couple when it comes to Valentine's Day. I got flowers on Friday - nice, but, honestly would have been happy without them. Correction, I would have been ticked had he NOT gotten them, but since he did, well, you get the picture. Poor men having to deal with hormonal women. They probably can't win. Friday was a sweet day, though.
Hold on and see if you can keep up! I started at 8 am at Andrew's school for Valentine's Field Day. The whole school was out in force for field games set to 80's love songs. They had to do some adapting for of the games (meant for 1st - 5th grade) - and Andrew is FOUR, and, oh yeah, still has Down Syndrome. But he boogied to the 80's beat, tossed hearts, did obstacle courses (since he can lift his leg over his head) and generally had a great time wearing himself out with his classmates for two hours.
Already clad in my red t-shirt, I stop by Blake & Brantley's shin-dig since I had mis-packed bags of Valentines (Andrew had Blake's and Blake had Andrew's). I found the mix-up irritating since we had done them early this year (Monday - seriously- they were done 4 days early) so to pack them in the wrong back-pack was generally frustrating. But, since we had done over 40 of the suckers, it was as good as it was going to get. So, back to the B's school for a drop-in visit. The boys were thrilled by the surprise visit. I was not the "party mom" so was not required to attend.
From school #2, I head to homeschool group - now Valentine Event #3 for the day for me (and it is not even 11:00 am). Here, the kids have made Valentines and decorated batches and batches of heart cookies to take to a local nursing home. We had a chat with our 4th graders that they needed to stop calling it "the old people's home" - that they were "elderly" - but I don't know if this lesson stuck. What I do know is that my heart was full of love and admiration for my little man Jeffrey, who just turned 10. The old folks, I mean elderly, were all sitting in the lobby and a sitting room waiting for lunch. Our 4 little people very sweetly patted arms, handed out cookies, wished each one a Happy Valentine's Day - and even answered questions. I could see Jeffrey get uncomfortable at times - unsure of what to do - like when one of the ladies was so crippled in her back that she was literally bent over at the waist and her line of sight was knee level - and her arms near the ground. In fairness to Jeffrey, I wasn't quite sure what to do either, but I always assume that mental capacity is fine (and even if it isn't, who cares?), so I squatted, and handed her a cookie. Jeffrey followed suit, wished her a "Happy Valentine's" and tucked her card into her chair. He was treated to her sweet smile and thanks, and as I watched his face, I realized that he was learning a great lesson that day (and it did not include diagramming sentences or decimals). Because, as it always is with loving others, you think you are going to serve others and you walk away with the bigger gift. With smiles and waves we wandered out, and, whew, my Valentine Friday was half-way over.
I must scan the card that Brantley made for me. It says, "I love my mom, said Brantley. I love my mom and dad - said Brantley." It tickled me that he made me 3-4 cards - but I was even more tickled by the "said Brantley" tag line!
Jeff and I did manage a dinner date Friday night. It was quite by accident. We had a sitter because we were going to a dinner party. But two couples got sick ones in their families and one had a baby-sitter cancel, so we were left alone - but with a siiter - not at all a bad place to be! Dinner was nice (Bonefish) and we took the kids to a movie as a family "date" on Saturday.
I posted on FB that I am "unromantic" about Valentine's Day. I guess I was feeling unromantic at the moment, but I do love romance the rest of the year. But the day did remind me to love on others (the nursing home thing) so I guess its not such a bad holiday after-all!
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