VALENTINE DAYS

It’s the morning of February 11, 2013 and I walk into the kitchen and there on the bare table lies a single tiny baby aspirin. So small in size, but huge in symbolism.  I am immediately struck once again by my husband’s love and concern. He knows that I am prone to forget this bit of daily medication, and he want to be certain that I get it. And I do get it ~ and so much more. As insignificant as it may seem, I know it represents his deep commitment to my well-being. And my heart is stirred with warm thoughts of him.

Valentine’s Day is approaching, and he has quizzed me about what gift I would like. (A couple of years ago it was a state-of-the art toilet for my bathroom ~ and he got it for me, much to the chagrin of some friends.) I am way past the stage of being wooed by bling. Don’t need candy, flowers that fade, and the moon is meaningless. So there is no list for him. But the aspirin……the aspirin represents the ongoing gifts he gives from his heart continually. And there are so many of them. Always opening my car door for me, even after 42 years of marriage. Unloading the dishwasher almost every time. (I load it.) Watering our ceiling high corn plant. Making a game of folding his underwear before I can get to it. Eagerly going to Wal-Mart for groceries, or whatever, whenever we are out of something. (A slight ulterior motive is to see his former workmates who pet him.) And a thousand little things.   

Buzz never fails to give me a seriously loving card for every occasion. He is not an articulate man by the world’s standards. But he has a gift for finding the perfect card to express his feelings. I learned from a friend to interpret these offerings as his love letters to me. And they are just as treasured as if he had composed them himself.

Like all marriages, ours is not perfect. But we have weathered the storms together. We worked at hard jobs, reared the children, paid the bills, buried our parents and siblings, and held on tight to each other, and to God. And I am eternally thankful for the man in my life who’s heart is my valentine every day of the year.

Funny what emotions a tiny aspirin can evoke……