i heart valentine's day!

as a young child, i can remember anticipating valentine's day. we would gather our valentines to share with our friends at school. my mom was always the room mother and she just kicked ass at parties. my mother taught me the fine art of making a party special, everyone included, even valentine's day that is traditionally for lovers became a family holiday.

as we got older and there were no more parties at school, we would come home to the brooklyn tabernacle choir blaring while my mother was singing her heart out and setting the table. a decorated table, a heart shaped meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, little paper bags taped to the wall with each person's name on it, little presents wrapped with curly ribbon on the hutch. my dad would come home with flowers and fine chocolates for each girl, we felt loved. those traditions created opportunities for kindness, something my parents were experts at.

in my own family of mostly boys, i often miss the "little things" that created the space and opportunity to love. jorge is leaving for las vegas and will be gone so we are having some of josiah's friends over for lunch. at the last minute i decided we really needed a family valentine's day too. it wouldn't be on par with ginny hammond's, but it was something.

jack helped me decorate by taping heart doilies to the door frames. josiah set the table with an odd assortment of things of old decorations he found. jorge helped the boys with their valentines- they weren't homemade- it was a mixture of star wars, the simpsons, and princess valentines that were several years old from a party we had before we had kids. the kids thought they were fantastic. we sat and exchanged valentines, the boys could barely wait to open the present sitting in the center of the table. no curly ribbon-a sherrie bobbins job for sure- but they didn't care.

it was a dvd, commercialism is flowing, but somehow the thought and sentiment is working it's way to the surface.

josiah's parting words before descending to the bedroom for movie watching-

"mom, i love you with my body, with my heart, with my soul."

"this is a nice valentine's huh?"

i heart valentine's day!