There is always a lot of pressure placed on those who are alone (by choice or not) to be with someone at this time of the year.
Well, when I say you should make the effort to prepare a special dinner for your mate, including candles and flowers, tablecloth, and cloth napkins, it is also for the single people as well.
Note the pictures; one set for one and the other has been set for two. No big deal either way, but looks special. Having just returned from Maui, what else would you expect me to do?
Why not? You are just as important and even if you order a pizza in or buy something prepared by a kitchen in a restaurant, take it home. set the table (make the effort, it is important) light a candle, put out a cloth, napkin, good dishes (at least the best you have), pour a glass of wine and enjoy the fact that you actually did this for YOU.
For everyone else, Plan ahead….salad or soup? Or both? Chicken? Pork Tenderloin (my meat of choice for Valentine’s), steak?
Potatoes? What kind? Rice? Pasta? Vegetables: Your choice, just not canned or frozen. Fresh is always best and it shows you actually took the time to do this.
Dessert? White Chocolate Brulee? Cheesecake? Chocolate Cake?
or
Fresh fruit, cheeses and a few crackers?
Big, expensive gifts are not always the way to show your affection. A sincerely bought card, a single rose or a bouquet of flowers and time set aside to show you care.
Enjoy! Now I have to go and plan our own special time.
Anniversary Time
Twenty-two years ago today, Don and I were married in Killiney Beach, in our yard overlooking the Okanagan Lake. This lovely community lies between Vernon and Kelowna on what our friends called “puke road”. The west side road. It is a dandy, to say the least.
We have had our share of ups and downs, good times and times that definitely could have been better. The bittersweet memories from that day are that my parents, aunt, uncle and Don’s brother-in-law are no longer with us.
The good times now is having 5 ‘kids’ working on making their own lives work for them, having two of our grandchildren graduating from high school this year and living in our dream home in Canada’s only desert. The best thing for me is that Don is much better, health-wise, since we moved here. I thank God every day for this, believe me.
He is a super-duper cook, wonderful father, grandfather and husband. Besides, he is so much fun to tease and flirt with every day it makes life so good for us. This is something neither one of us takes for granted.
He made me wait three years before he asked me to marry him and I didn’t give him the chance to take a second breath. Did you really think I was crazy? Besides, his sister always said she would have married him first ‘cuz he is such a wonderful cook.
I met Don 25 years ago through friends and fell so hard for this man with the silken voice. We talked for hours on the phone (something I very rarely do, except when talking to Kelly or Suzanne) and planning and carrying off surprises for this guy is always the best thing to do.
Am I in love with this man? There aren’t enough stars in our Universe to place separately on each one the feelings I have for this wonderful man. He owes me 40 years still. (It was 40 years the day I married him and every day I tell him he still owes me 40 years.
Thank you Don for all you have given me and, again, you owe me 40 years.
p.s. I love you so, so much.
Parent’s Anniversary
It is something I didn’t think would ever happen, I guess because I really didn’t give it any thought….dates you cannot EVER pass over as another day or not ever think about the special day for two people who loved each other so very much. These dates are forever in our minds and hearts. Birthdays, Anniversaries…….
My parents were married for 62 years and dated for 3 years before that. When you look simply at the numbers it is a long time….when you look at the family they had, the grandchildren and great-children…it is mind-boggling.
I was not the ‘favoured’ child by any means, but I never missed a day of phoning to say hi, or when I lived in the same city, planning the Anniversary parties for them, surprising them and seeing the looks on their faces. After being away from them for many years, they planned their own. They loved the excitement and family, friends and neighbors around them.
They are both gone now; my father for almost 13 years and my mother for going on 8 years. I miss their voices most of all and am trying so hard not to forget the sound of their voices; their mannerisms, jokes and old Irish sayings my Pop could come up with, or my Mother recalling “back in the day” stories.
My parents were very proud people. Proud of their heritage, their friends, what they had accomplished with what they knew. We were lucky to have them for as long as we did.
Today is their “Anniversary”…so Mom and Pop….Happy Anniversary. I wish you were here so we could talk…about what we have done lately, where we are planning to go in the future and to hear, perhaps one more time “Freddie, don’t pat”.
Love you and miss you both so much.