Todd and I are up to our eyeballs in play-planning. Plus, we just forked over a huge chunk of change for a closet organizing system. So, Valentine's Day was destined to be low-key in our house.
The kids got special cards and bags of loot from all their grandparents. The helium balloons from Auntie Ellen were also a big hit! I bought them each a little token something-or-other from Mommy and Daddy and called it good. Done, right?
Well, I had nearly forgotten that a couple weeks ago, Amanda's teacher had sent home a special request for parents to make a valentine for their third grader, secretly send it back to her at school, and the teacher would distribute them to "our little valentine" at the class party. Oh, my. Martha Stewart I am not. Don't craft. Don't scrapbook. Don't even have legible handwriting.
That paper sat on my bedside table for a week. Finally, I figured I better get it done before I forgot altogether. I got out some scissors and some glitter glue and some stickers. I gave Todd one of those paper heart doilies and told him to write a special message from Dad. I took another and wrote a couple lines just from Mommy. I wrote Amanda's name down the middle of the valentine and added decorative accents where I could.
When I finished, I figured it looked about as good as if a third grader did it (or maybe a preschooler.) I sealed it up in an envelope, sent it back to the teacher, and then forgot about it... until Amanda hugged me at rehearsal this afternoon and said, "Thanks, Mom, for the special valentine you made."
This evening, I overheard her on the telephone describing the valentine to her grandma: "It had these pretty, paper doily-hearts, with messages from my dad and my mom (recited verbatim.) And it was glued to the most beautiful paper... my favorite paper we have in this house, with the rainbow ladybugs on it. And there were puppy and kitty stickers because those are my favorite..." She went on and on, gushing over her homemade-makeshift-Mommy valentine.
She didn't care that I'm not artistic. She didn't care if the card looked early-American-garage-sale. She didn't care that it wasn't original or over-the-top. Amanda loved that I took the time to tell her how I love her. And I do.
Oh, how I love all my valentines!
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