Happy Valentines Day

Tomorrow will mark the 3^rd 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.