Happy V Day!

February 14th is about much much more than Valentine's Day, folks.  Please take some time and visit VDay, contribute if you can, and continue to make it a part of your life Until The Violence Stops.

 

Now, onto the good lovie dovie stuff.

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all lovers.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all non-lovers.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all believers.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all pessimists.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S Day TO ALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!

 

It was my morning to get up with the kids. Of course, they got up before anyone had a right to be awake, but whatever.  It was just as well that they got up - I had plans for them.  I had planned a special breakfast for them.  I will never forget, as long as I live, the year that I went to the breakfast table as a kid on Valentine's Day and found a box with chocolate in it that spelled out "I Love You."   It was from my mom and it was sitting on my breakfast plate.  It meant so much to me that she would do that - and I was just a kid.  I have carried that with me since then and I wanted to show my smallest Valentine's how much I love them.  So off to the kitchen I went, stubbing my toe in the dark, to make Duck and Stealth something special to start the day.

But I stopped dead in my tracks when I turned on the light.

 

Sitting in front of my teapot was a card addressed to me.

 

'My greatest gift is to be with you, alone.' -- Maya Angelou

At the heart of our togetherness,

I find truth

and laughter

and the freedom to be myself.

Thank you

for being my joy,

my love.

 

And then there was a lovely message from B, ending with "P.S. Look in the fridge!"

 

Low and behold, in my refrigerator, was a huge box of the best chocolate covered strawberries known to man.    GOOD LORD, B is on a roll!  He stayed up after I went to bed last night and set it all up for me to be surprised this morning.  I'm telling you, he's a great man.

 

So, after munching on a strawberry at 6:30 in the morning, I made breakfast for the kids: pancakes with whipped cream in the shape of a heart and ripe raspberries, Raspberry sparkling grape juice, and a raspberry and chocolate milk shake topped with whipped cream and another raspberry.   And I even gave them each one of my strawberries - am I good or what?

 

What a way to start the day!

 

Tonight is my signature spinach mannicotti, Caesar salad, bread, and cookies for dessert.  And more strawberries.

 

It's gonna be a great Valentine's - B is off, there's snow outside, and I'm surrounded by those whom I love most.

 

Happy V-Day, everyone.  Tell someone you love them today.  And, as Stephan Stills wisely said, "if you cannot be with the one you love, love the one you're with."