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A Valentine Every Day
by LaVonne Boruk
Walking through the mall holding hands with His Nibs like a couple of kids I was looking down at the tile on the floor thinking about a challenge I had been given a few days before to write about my most memorable Valentines Day. Suddenly there was a strong tug on my arm. He was pulling me sharply to the left. Startled, I raised my head and looked around. I was totally disoriented. I saw valentine balloons and valentine teddy bears. He pulled harder, saying, "This way."
Trying to get my bearings I looked up and saw the sign DILLARD'S above a doorway. Surprised, I stuttered, "What? Are we there already?" The words were hardly out of my mouth before I realized that we were not "there." The sign should say PENNY'S if we had reached the far end of the mall.
Still disoriented I looked around quickly and realized we had barely begun our morning walk. I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't noticed the mall was entirely different than the last time I had walked those corridors just before Christmas of last year.
Another tug on my arm brought reality sinking into my skull. "What were you thinking about?" His Nibs wanted to know, grinning at me.
"I was thinking about the valentine challenge. I'm supposed to write about the one Valentines Day that I remember best. But I've had forty-nine years of Valentines Days and there is not one that I can choose over the others."
"What does that mean." He was still holding my hand, guiding me in the right direction.
"You. I've had you for forty-nine years. The best valentine anyone could have."
"Oh no! I've had the best one." There wasn't another living soul in sight as he drew me to him and held me in a warm embrace just for a moment.
It was seven A.M. The sky, as he drove to the mall, had been a hazy gray, and it was damp and cold. It had drizzled a cold rain all day long the day before, and I'd had a poor night's sleep last night. I felt cold and achy all night and seemed to be awake more than I was asleep. I had asked him the night before to wake me in the morning, because I like to do my exercise routine before breakfast, and besides that, he had places to go and things to do today. He is out of bed by five every morning. He lets me sleep while he reads the morning paper.
I'd been awake for what seemed hours when he came into the bedroom at 6:30 to wake me for our early morning walk. I hadn't felt much like walking then, but now I felt as though I were walking on air.
The rest of our walk went quickly. As we returned to our car in the parking lot the sun was shining bright and cheery. On the way home I began to think of other Valentine Days. I remembered that Valentines Day is my mother's birthday, and a week later my dad's birthday. So really I've had the best of all valentines every day of my life. Mother and Daddy have been gone many years. I still miss them both. I guess I always will.
Remembering them brings tears to my eyes. His Nibs walks by my chair as I type this and no doubt sees the tears. He gives my ear a loving twitch, then walks on past me gathering up all the trash to carry out. He teases me a bit about the trash I generate from my writing.
As we left our car this morning to enter the mall a breeze caught my hair and sent it flying. He put his hand on my head and said, "There now, it's calmed down."
I said, "Yes, a wooden hand and a wooden head." I of course meant his head and his hand, referring to a property in wood, which removes static electricity from manmade fibers that touch it.
He said, "Yes, my warm, soft hand on your wooden head." He was of course referring to my stubbornness and hard headedness. We both learned many years ago that it's okay to tease each other this way. It makes for a happier and more interesting marriage if we don't take ourselves too seriously.
We had walked so fast that just before the walk was over my emphysema got the best of me and I had to stop a moment to catch my breath. He waited patiently with me while I leaned on the rail overlooking an escalator to do so.
Then as we walked near the car he said, "You made good time even with the rest and recuperation break."
In the car now, he cranked up the engine. I looked at the clock and noted the time. It was 7:33. I said, "I wanted to finish, but I felt like I was going to pass out and I didn't want you to have to carry me the rest of the way."
He grinned and said, "Well if you had I would've just dragged you back to the car. Your hair would have been really messed up then."
©2001 LaVonne Boruk
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