“You and me go together like socks and sandals.”
Oh, Ann Arbor… I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day but I am loving following the #A2VDay hashtag on Twitter. The title tweet is from @Damnarbor. I don’t follow @damnarbor on twitter but I do follow the Damn Arbor blahg. The proprietor of the Damn Arbor blog is a friend of one of the beach urchins from back in middle school and my urchin occasionally posts entries on there too, usually about music that I know nothing about (but I am proud of her anyway and my sense of pride probably greatly exceeds her sense of accomplishment). Anyway, I can identify with socks and sandals. That’s what I wore on my 0-skunk-30 walk today. What a relief to not need boots and YakTrax even for one day!
I spent a bit of time trying to dredge up Valentine’s Day memories today and came up with a few albeit not of the romantic sort. Like this one…
If you are of a certain age, do you remember when we used to decorate shoe boxes at home and take them to school to collect valentines? I don’t remember what grade I was in, maybe 1st? I don’t remember if I waited until the last minute to tell The Commander that I needed a valentine box or what. I do remember being terribly upset that we didn’t have any valentine *colored* “stuff” to decorate the box with. Red, white, etc. The Commander dredged up some supplies, doilies and fancy paper and stuff. Problem? The main color was *lavender*! Yikes! That was *not* a Valentine’s Day color! Lavender? It would not do. I’m sure many histrionics followed and The Comm probably had one of *those* nights. I hope she had whine… But lavender was the color we had and I reluctantly took my [gorgeous] lavender valentine box to school hoping I didn’t end up being the laughingstock of the classroom. Well, what do you think happened? Of course, my [gorgeous] lavender valentine box was a huge hit!
I am spending Valentine’s Day alone. The GG is on his way north. He is spacifying me. That is okay with me. He has Monday off and I do not and I am uber-busy at work. We have been married 30 years. That’s a pretty long time but certainly many folks have lasted longer and I hope we do too. I was writing this long complicated thing about stages of marriage but I lost my train of thought. The point is that marriage changes as life changes. There have been times when I didn’t want the GG to go. There have been times where I have said, “Just go and have a good time!” This weekend, I am ambivalent. Wishing I could go north but somehow not ready…
In the last few years, as The Commander became ill and died, the GG and I were often apart, tag-teaming her. I was up there or he was. I remember sitting on the beach or the moomincabin deck at the end of a long day and wishing I had my partner to walk the beach and drink a ‘hattan with. I love that place so much but it wasn’t much fun being there alone with The Comm in long-term care. I missed having the GG there with me then. I miss having him here now. But I work tomorrow and I will find plenty of stuff to do this weekend. And I appreciate that he loved The Comm and was so willing to help me with her in her last years. Love you buddy…
February 14th, 2013 at 7:24 pm
My sister and her husband are joining us tonight for the weekend. Valentine’s day is not a “biggy” for us either although Reg gave me a book this morning. I do remember Valentine exchanges in a Catholic (not catholic) grade school. The nun would have a large box wherein we stuffed our valentines for others in the class. She would choose one student to deliver the Valentines while everyone watched. Of course students would keep track of how many, and who would get what from whom, etc. Not sure that was the healthiest event.
February 14th, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Not much of a fan of the holiday either, especially this year. Your marriage sounds a lot like my marriage; we were pretty independent people but always had each other’s backs. I DO remember those shoe boxes! My kids did them too; I probably still have a couple of them around.
February 14th, 2013 at 10:50 pm
I remember Quaker Oats cereal boxes — you know, the round ones. We decorated them into “mail boxes” for art in class to receive our valentines (not at home, for which I’m sure my mother was very grateful). The “richer” kids always incorporated a sucker in their valentines cards. I always wanted to do that, but Mom always said no. I did come home tonight to a lovely orchid (I actually have good luck with them), and a great big huge gigantic bag of premium birdseed! Very pleased!!
February 15th, 2013 at 9:35 am
I remember doing those valentine’s boxes as well. on a side note, I got a birthday e-card that said ‘if you were Jesus, today would be Christmas!’, which, if you know me, is a very funny card!!
February 15th, 2013 at 8:24 pm
aw shucks.
February 15th, 2013 at 11:28 pm
While you were gone that Spring, TMOTU made beef stew in a crock pot from the 50s(?), complete with cloth cord. EEK!!