I'll have to admit, I've struggled with writing this post. Why? because it makes me kinda sad. I no longer get to do some of the fun things that we did when our kids were younger. For 20+ years I devoted most of my time and energy to raising two of the most incredible children ever (in my humble opinion). Yes, I worked outside the home part-time throughout those years but primarily my focus was my children. I so wanted their childhood to be a very good and positive memory for them. And because of my celebratory personality, holidays and birthdays, well, let's just say . . . were always something special. Which brings us to our Valentine's Day tradition! Some of you are probably thinking, did she just say Valentine's Day tradition? Who has traditions surrounding Valentine's Day? That would be us.
First of all, on the big day, we always piled in D's SUV for what we called the "Fast Food Progressive Dinner." Beginning with our drinks, we chose the fast food restaurant that had our favorite foods. The point is: the place had to have a drive thru. We stayed in the car to eat and drink everything. This was great fun! You know when you have your children in the car with you, they are a captive audience so we got to talk, laugh and relax together while poor D drove us all over tarnation trying to satisfy our every fast food whim.
We always had our favorites:
Tea: Zaxby's - because everybody knows they have great tea and absolutely the best ice!
Appetizer: This would always be a toss up between the following: Arby's curly fries or mozzarella sticks, Sonic's tator tots or Chick-fil-A's waffle fries.
The Main Course: Each person got to choose their favorite so you realize we could be visiting every fast food restaurant chain known to North America in the course of one evening and some twice! Which is what we usually did. Some favorites here: CFA's classic chicken sandwich, Big Mac from McDonalds; tacos from Taco Bell. Oh, it was a dilemma.
Dessert: Hmm . . . a blizzard from the DQ? ice dream from CFA? or a frosty from Wendys? All very good choices.
And, as you can tell, no nutritional information was investigated at all on this day!
Then when we got home from that expedition, I always had a Scavenger Hunt ready for the kids to find their Valentine's Day gifts. Gifts were not expensive or outrageous, just fun new stuff. I would prepare clues and hide their gifts ahead of time so that when we returned, we could let the games begin. They loved it! Keep in mind, we did this up until about two years ago when G was a senior in high school. It's kinda like we were with Santa. If they told me that they didn't believe in Santa anymore, then Santa stopped bringing them gifts. Guess who never mentioned not believing in Santa again? Guess who never complained about Valentine's Day either?
I sure do miss this. I guess D and I could do a Scavenger Hunt together. Not sure what we would hunt for and not sure I could remember where I hid it. Isn't menopause fun? Don't answer that. This is about Valentine's Day.
So, this Valentine's Day and always, I'm sending much, much love to the most incredible man I know and to two of the best children a mother could ever ask for. I love you all so much. Thank you for allowing me to do such crazy stuff all those years! It was a joy and an honor. Much love, Mom
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