My Valentine

Mike is not a big proponent of Valentine's Day. He says once you are married you should be able to just celebrate your anniversary and not have to worry about v-day anymore. I don't care too much myself to be honest but there is nothing wrong with having a day to honor Love. I just got him a few little things from the Hearts for Haiti site along with a custom card/print from riricreations like this one.

I forwarded her the above picture of the two of us, which is one of my favorites, and 60 words that sum up our relationship and the past 7 years of our lives. I thought I would share the words with you. They are:

February 17, Minor League Hockey, Adaptation, Sun Valley Lake, India Palace, Tanzanite, June 19, 2004, "In My Life", Family, The Chimes, Friendship, Lenox Farms, Laughing, New Orleans, Art, Higher Education, Writing, The Bloolights, Lenox Knits, "The Office", Archon, Sushi, Nieces & Nephews, Teaching, Companionship, Mean Bags, Games, Mr. Fidelity, Long Naps, Creating, Books, Friday Dinner, Guitars, Yarn, Acceptance, Judge Judy, El Maguey, Matching Quirks, Forgiving, Poodle Joy, Mayan Ruins, Comforting

Some of them might seem random but they will have meaning to Mike if no one else. Mike and I met on February 17 when we were set up by my now sister in law at a Minor League Hockey game. There is a somewhat amusing story about our first meeting that I don't think I've ever told here. My sister in law, who is married to Mike's twin brother Mark, and I had met about a year before through our mutual friend Leslie. We hung out periodically as a threesome and they had joked about how Debi should set me up with Mike but nothing had ever come of it. Mike had just gotten divorced and Debi said she was unsure whether he was ready to meet someone right away. I smoked at the time and she knew that would be a turn off to him so it took some time before she decided to just put us both in the same place and see what happened.

She called me out of the blue one day and said that they had a spare ticket to a hockey game and asked if I wanted to come along. She hinted that Mike would be there. I got to where we were meeting and saw that Debi was in the car with just one guy and when I walked up she said that Mark had unfortunately gotten called into work and wouldn't be able to join us. I said that was too bad and we headed in. As we were sitting down I let her sit next to who I thought was her husband and spent the first half of the game interacting with Mike as if he was married to my friend. I had only ever hung out with Debi with Leslie and wasn't really solid on the names of the twins or their occupations.

At halftime Debi and I went to the bathroom as women tend to do together. I said that it was really too bad that things hadn't worked out with the setup. She looked at me kind of strange and said "oh, what is the matter." Then it hit me that the twin I was supposed to meet was the one that was there. I went back and sat down next to Mike and said, "So, I just realized that you aren't Debi's husband." We laughed about it and it actually made us relax and we enjoyed the rest of the evening. Mike said he knew right away that he would be spending a lot more time with me. And the rest is history, or our history I guess you could say.

Debi and I had briefly met years before through our friend but hadn't clicked at that time. She even has a picture of Leslie with half of my body in it that she discovered after we became reacquainted. I have wondered what would have happened if Mike and I had met 10 years earlier when we were all in college. I think about how we both would have avoided a lot of heartache if we had found each other then. But who knows if we would have been ready for each other at that time. That heartache helped to make us who we are and how we accept each other as a couple. Mike and I came together fully formed and with our quirks ready to connect. I honestly don't think that would have happened back then.

I doubt that we will be getting out of the house tomorrow since another snow storm is coming our way. I'm looking forward to finding out what he picked out for me from Hearts For Haiti. It's been on top of the refrigerator out of reach for me to sneak a peak all week. I hope you have a sweet day. If you don't have your own special Valentine now keep in mind that the time just might not be right for the two of you yet.

Random Thoughts

There is still time to buy your handmade Valentines cards from Hearts for Haiti with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Border's relief efforts in Haiti. Here are a few of my favorites that are for sale in the card section of their site. The top card was donated by jbart.etsy.com. This set of 20 mini cards portray images of original acrylic and digital artwork by Karen Altman. They would be perfect for you older child to pass out to their closest friends and are far superior to the standard fare found at the market. They were donated by twigstudionc.etsy.com.
I have bought Valentines Day gifts for just about everyone that I can think of from the site. I admit it's much harder to find gifts for the guys but I have managed. Since my shop is closed at the moment, I have their Etsy mini on the blog for now.

I have practically been a social butterfly this weekend. Last night I went out to dinner with Mike and his mother which is our traditional Friday night event. It's important to Mike that all three of us are there or it just isn't Friday night. This was the first in almost a month that I've managed to make it out. It was a hassle getting there obviously but it was well worth it. Today we had some company including Ani which lifted my spirits considerably. Tomorrow we have our Rep Theatre tickets for an afternoon showing. I called ahead and had mine changed to handicapped seating. I'm hopeful that it won't be too much trouble to get me there.

This week Ani was talking to me about some little power struggle going on in her classroom between the girls. I replayed it to a very uninterested Mike and then later when we were watching TV I had a revelation and said, "I think the real problem is M. not G." Mike said I think the real problem is that you need to get back to work so that you stop thinking about this elementary school drama.

He really wants me to try to get into work some next week. I just don't think it is worth it to spend an hour getting into the office with the drive and hassle of getting into the building, work for a half day and then turning around and doing it again to get home. Especially since it's really not busy right now. If it was three weeks ago when we were super busy I would make the effort but even my boss told me that it just isn't worth it right now. In 2 weeks I will hopefully be able to put some weight on it. I will still need my walker but it won't be like it is now. I think I will go back part time on days that I can get someone to stop by and help me get to my car the following week. After seeing me hop my way to the car, down the steps, and on the sloped driveway my mother in law has forbidden me from doing it by myself.

The worst pain I'm dealing with right now is actually from the incision on the right side. It's the one that only had 7 staples and 2 screws. The other side had 14 staples and 6 screws but it hasn't caused me much pain since a few days after the surgery. I think the surgeon pinched my skin when putting the staples in on the right side. Mike said they looked bunched up when they were removing them and there was a lot of bleeding. They are covered by some type of bandage so I can't see if there is anything wrong but Mike says I would know it if there was an infection. It burns and is uncomfortable but it is manageable so I'm not going to worry too much about it.

Hope you all are having a good weekend. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.