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February 14, 2009
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Remembering Valentine's Day, by Steve Brumfield
Okay, guys, stay with me here. I understand and am well aware that
nobody wants advice, but would like to offer up some thoughts about my
favorite holiday ... Valentines Day. I know, this is dangerous
territory for guys, since many consider Valentine's Day to be a holiday
created for women and by women. But my experience is a little
different, but it really is my favorite holiday.
For a number of years, I would get my wife candy and flowers. Sue liked
the candy. However, she did not like the cut roses. After all, they
were cut -- they were just dead flowers to her, plus they charge twice
as much for the "dead ones" as they do for live ones. So about ten
years prior to her death, I started doing silly things ... small
things.
For about ten years, I had gotten Sue a stuffed singing something --
most of these were simple stuffed animals that "sang" a classic song of
some kind. One year it was a mouse dressed up in an evening gown with a
little wig and microphone singing "Fever." Another year it was a
Gorilla that sang "WILD THING." And on and on I had selected a new
stuffed animal for each. It was challenging to come up with a new one
each year, but fun at the same time. (Hint: I got most of these from
Walgreen's.)
I don't know what more I would have done.
Sue liked some better than others; however, we saved them all. In
February of 2007, I went to a Michael's crafts store in Cool Springs
and got a bunch of stuff to decorate our mantle. I got all the singing
stuffed things out from previous years and put them on the mantle -- I
was sneaking around the house to do this at 2 or 3 in the morning.
Then, I put the latest addition, a dog that sang "I Can't Stop Loving
You" beside the coffee pot and a note telling her to go in and play cut
six on the CD, a John Denver song, "For You." I also got a white shoe
polish pencil so I could write things on the mirror in the bathroom and
over the window above the kitchen sink.
Perhaps you have a routine, perhaps not. My experience suggests that
women appreciate thoughtfulness more than big gifts ... at least this
was true in my case. So on Valentine's Day of 2008, I thought back with
fondness on my precious wife and our life together, realizing that if I
had known Valentine's Day 2007 would have been our last one, I don't
know what more I would have done.
Guys, let's not take for granted the preciousness of the ones we love
and remember them in simple ways that say, "I love you!"
---------
(c) 2009 Steve Brumfield <steve.brumfield@gmail.com>
RELATED LINKS:
* Home is Where ...
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200411/20041118_home.html
* Surprised by Love
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200702/20070212_surprisedbylove.html
* Phone Call of Love
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200702/20070214_calloflove.html
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200902/20090214_remembering.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
HOUSE, by Frank Peretti & Ted Dekker
Best-selling authors Peretti and Dekker join forces for an
adrenaline-laced thriller!
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?253
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