Tomorrow will
mark the 3rd year I have celebrated Valentines day alone.
Learning to appreciate myself and function as a single unit has been
difficult. But it has allowed me to focus on myself and how I
function, not how I function with someone else. It has also given me
more time to focus on my child, who has always been the centre of my
existence, since after she was just a twinkle in her fathers eye.
I love my
child. She is the most important person in my life. She is funny
and smart and she gets me into all sorts of situations that I never
thought I'd get into. I had purchased a huge amount of stamps a few
years ago when I was dating a soldier. I thought I'd be the good
army girlfriend and write to her frequently. I overestimated the
amount of stamps I would need by over estimating her emotional
investment in our relationship. The result was I had a butt load of
stamps left over when she ended the relationship that I couldn't possibly hope to use in this life
time. I had purchased them with the intent of helping a soldier keep
morale, so I thought it only appropriate to use them for such a
purpose. We've written to soldiers over seas for Christmas and this
year we were going to write to Valentines day for vets.
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/get-involved/valentines-for-veterans
I asked my daughter to make a valentines day card for our soldiers.
What I got was this:
I probably
should have been more specific that it had to fit in a normal every
day envelope. Learning lesson for Mom. So now I was faced with a
problem. How was I going to get this card to a vet after she poured
so much love into it? I sought help from my military friends. My
friend suggest I take it to the local armoury and let her give it to
them personally. “You mean the big place with the double doors
with the tank out front right?” I asked hesitantly. “Yes that's
the one.” Well, I wasn't sure how comfortable I was storming the
front entrance to the local armoury with a gigantic card, but I had
made a promise to my kid and a promise to the vets and I had to hold
up my end of the bargain no matter how uncomfortable I was.
This
morning we piled into our SUV with the gigantic card and drove up to
the armoury. As fate would have it there was a parking space right
out front like a beacon for me to park. We stopped to take this
picture.
We sauntered
on over to the front door which had a sign that read ring bell for
entrance. Okay, I had to prop my kid up so she could ring the bell,
which I hadn't done in a very long time! We waited and suddenly a
soldier appeared and inquired how he could help. My child was
suddenly uncharacteristically shy and was hiding behind me. I
pushed her in front like a human shield and said, “My child has
made a valentines day card for the vets and she would like to give it
to one.” He ushered us in from the cold and said that he was a
vet, but was going to get us to give it to another gentleman.
Actually what he did was get her to give it to a bunch of vets both
male and female who were milling around the kitchen. They hung it on
the wall right in the armoury for all the soldiers to see. I
couldn't say much because I had a lump in my throat. I couldn't even thank them. I hope they all know how grateful we are. All I could do
was smile. Happy Valentines day to our vets. You are loved.
If you don't
have someone to love romantically this Valentines day, find someone
share love with anyhow. I know my heart feels full today.
