{"id":520,"date":"2017-02-14T22:18:02","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T22:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/womanoverboard.me\/?p=520"},"modified":"2019-08-06T13:03:30","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T13:03:30","slug":"my-valentine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womanoverboard.com\/?p=520","title":{"rendered":"My Valentine"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a sucker for all things sweet and heart-shaped. I spend hours, weeks ahead of February 14th, searching for just the right books that speak to my grandchildren’s hearts, and that perfect red dress (this year blue, but adorned with a heart, of course) for my granddaughter to wear to school. I buy candy for my childr\"img_2950\"en\u00a0and friends, but also heart-shaped boxes for my sisters and cousins. As soon as Valentine cards make their appearance on drugstore shelves just after Christmas, I begin amassing dozens of them, taking great pains to get a comical one for my friend that makes me laugh the most and a syrupy sweet one for the friend who listens so patiently to all my drivel. I carefully select cards for my five children\u2019s individual personalities and as many Elmo\u2019s and Mickey & Minnie\u2019s that I can find to delight my two granddaughters and four grandsons. Sorry, Beau. I missed sending you one this year. At 5 weeks of age, I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll remember, but I promise I will make it up to you next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Where love is concerned, too much is not even enough.” — Pierre Beaumarchais<\/p><\/div>\n

The most significant part of my Valentine\u2019s Day shopping is looking for the perfect card for my sweetheart of 42 years. I want to buy every card I see that says, \u201cTo My Wonderful \"img_2976\"Husband\u201d with one criterion: it must bring a tear to my eye. Being a schmaltzy person, who cries just \u201clooking at a wall\u201d according to my wonderful husband, just reading one cloying Hallmark rhyme has me sniveling all over it. Hence, now that it is not fit for sale, I HAVE to buy it. After a 20-minute and 6-bag checkout, a line of people with 3 or 4 items glare at me. I keep apologizing for the balloons and their ribbon tails that are now caught on the cart behind me. I say, \u201cSorry, I have so many grand kids to remember and I always go overboard.\u201d Then I accidentally bump the stuffed Elmo, who really does go overboard and starts singing \u201cElmo\u2019s World, Elmo’s World\u201d while I try to pay. The chip reader isn\u2019t working, so the salesperson has to run the card through. Finally, I back my cart full of heart treasures out of the store, careful to hold the balloons tight so they don\u2019t fly away when I get outside. After 10 more minutes of trying to stuff everything in the car, careful to only pop one balloon in the trunk, I head home. There will be no dinner tonight. My two-hour trip to Walgreens means it will be another \u201ctake-out\u201d night. Thankfully, I have reached the house before my husband, so I can hide my treasures. <\/span><\/p>\n

Due to my organizational challenges which I referred to in an earlier post, as the happy heart day draws near, I must spend endless hours searching for my precious valentines under beds and above closets, in drawers, and even in the car. After exhausting all possible hiding places, I run out the day before Valentine\u2019s Day to start the process all over again. This is how I amass boxes of \u201cValentine Cards,\u201d which I could draw from every year. But as I am \u201cdistracted by shiny objects,\u201d the next time I go to the drugstore with a plan to spend only 5 minutes squeezing the Charmin, I am beckoned by even prettier red heart balloons rising over the rolls of toilet paper. I can\u2019t resist their airy appeal, and suddenly I find myself in the card aisle. <\/span><\/p>\n

An hour has gone by, and I am lost in my fairytale fantasy, reading the lovely lyrics, and laughing at all the musical ones. I am serenaded by the Turtles\u2019 \u201cHappy Together\u201d and decide this is THE perfect card for my husband, as our basement is full of taxidermied turtles his father collected for his seafood restaurant. He is so sentimental he won\u2019t part with them—-so in the cart it goes. Done! No, here\u2019s another one even prettier: black and red with \u201cHusband\u201d scrolled in sparkling calligraphy and dotted with a large rhinestone, aka \u201cdiamond\u201d (good hint for him). \u201cI\u2019m so grateful you\u2019re my HUSBAND,\u201d it reads. \u201cYou\u2019re a man of few words…\u201d (How do they know him so well?) \u201cBut you always find thoughtful ways to show me that you care\u2026\u201d Oh my, this is really meant for him. My husband gives me so many surprise birthday parties that the only surprise now is when I walk into a room on my birthday and there is no surprise. So, in the cart it goes.<\/p>\n

I will leave one card by his shower, but as he is often in a hurry and overlooks things, I\u2019ll put the second one by his coffee. \u00a0If he misses that one (which he has in the past), I\u2019ll have a third one taped on his steering wheel, which is where I have to put things if I want him to remember to take them to the office. \u00a0Note: I am not always up when he goes to work. He is a morning person, and I am a night person. We figured this out when he was wooing me and I was in the theatre. He would go to dinner after the show with the cast and fall asleep at the table. But that was okay with me. At least he made the effort. Opposites attract. He\u2019s cheerful in the morning, and I\u2019m not. I\u2019m wide awake at 2:00 a.m. reading, and he\u2019s sound asleep. But, he is so considerate that he tiptoes out early in the morning, quiet as a mouse, letting me get my beauty sleep. I am sure he doesn\u2019t think that I NEED my beauty sleep, nor do I imagine he may want some quiet time in the morning to read his paper without my endless chatter chiming in his ear. No, I am sure he\u2019s just being considerate. He really is a sweetheart.<\/p>\n

\"\u2764\"<\/p>\n

I owe my obsession with Valentine\u2019s Day to my father, who made sure I knew I was \u201chis little sweetheart\u201d at a very early age. I can remember the excitement I felt every February 14th, kneeling in the front window, waiting for what seemed like days, running back and forth to the kitchen to ask my mom, \u201cHow long until Daddy\u2019s home?\u201d When my sister and I finally saw the lights of his car coming up the driveway, we could no longer contain ourselves, tripping over each other to be the first to open the door. His giant form came over the threshold. (He was not a big man, but to a four-year-old he was HUGE). He leaned down and scooped us both up in his arms. With a peck on each of our cheeks, he asked, \u201cWho\u2019s my little sweetheart today?\u201d\"nancy-felicia-harold\" <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am,\u201d I shouted, squeezing him around the neck.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMe too,\u201d my older sister chirped demurely, not nearly as showy and obnoxious as me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d he said, putting us down gently and reaching into his big pockets. \u201cLet\u2019s see what Daddy has for his little Valentines.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As we jumped up and down with glee, he pulled what might have been solid gold from his pockets. He teased us, not giving us the bags, but holding them above our heads. As we jumped for them, he magically pulled a white card from the brown paper. It displayed the items we had been dreaming about: beautiful silver necklaces and bracelets with a red, glowing heart glistening in the middle of each.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOH, Daddy, thank you so much.\u201d I tried to pull it from the cardboard, so anxious to have it around my neck that I almost tore it in two. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWait, wait, be careful. It\u2019s delicate, and you don\u2019t want to break it, do you? Here let me help you.”<\/span><\/p>\n

I finally settled down. My sister calmly waited her turn, as Daddy\u2019s big hands clasped the silver around my neck. Then as he helped my sister with her necklace, I grabbed the shiny bracelet and pulled it over my hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Daddy, I love you so much,\u201d I said, flinging my bejeweled wrist around his white starched collar.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love you too, Nancy. You\u2019re a doll.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I \u00a0don\u2019t remember what he said to my sister, as I was too busy dancing around like a princess to notice. Besides, I liked to think that Daddy\u2019s love was reserved especially for me. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then he picked up the bunch of red roses he had left on the hallway floor, and sauntered into the kitchen, the flowers tucked behind his back as he leaned in to kiss our mother, who had a piping hot dinner ready for all of us–she was her best at night, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daddy didn\u2019t know it at the time, but this \u201croyal treatment\u201d set me up for great expectations from the men in my life. He made me so happy as a little girl that he prepared me to fall in love with a man who also made me feel cherished and loved.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was long before I had ever heard the words \u201cself-esteem.\u201d I didn\u2019t need to read or learn about it. I HAD it from an early age in the thoughtful and loving way my father treated me every day. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ted was my Prince Charming.\u00a0Growing up only 5 miles from my house, he was taught by his father’s example to court me with the same love and respect that my daddy had given me. Now, as an adult, I know it must have been hard for my dad to give his little \u201csweetheart\u201d away.\u00a0But when he saw how happy I was with Ted, he followed this advice: \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLove means having to let go.\u201d \u00a0\"nancy-ted-harold\"
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"nancyandted\"<\/span><\/p>\n

So, on this Valentine\u2019s Day, I whisper a \u201cthank you\u201d to my father, who is sadly long gone but has left an indelible mark on me and on generations to come. If he were here, I would say, \u201cOh Daddy, you gave me the most wonderful gift any little girl can receive.\u00a0You taught me how to love. On Valentine\u2019s Day and every day, you gave me your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”\u00a0<\/span>—<\/span>Audrey Hepburn<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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