Happy Valentine's Day 2020

Gary and I are not big celebrators of holidays, including Valentine's Day.  This year, with wanting to do so many things to get ready for our mission, we decided not to do anything special.  That was good since we both had a busy day.  I had a staff meeting and some clients and an advisory board meeting to attend and Gary took Jena on the regular Friday route of skiing and theatre.

However, on the actual day when I was heading home from the office, I realized that Jena would be disappointed if we didn't do something special.  She had already made personal valentines for each of her roommates and hid them on their beds with some candy before she had headed home the day before.

It is not that she expected things for herself on Valentines, but more that she knows that showing love makes people happy and she thinks that we should celebrate.  I decided that I would make a run to the store and pick up a few things and this is what I ended up with.

 A row of conversation hearts for our fireplace-

I put post it notes around their plates with reasons why I loved them.

I set the table and got Papa Murphy's pizza including their heart shaped pepperoni pizza--

And I waited for them to get home.

At 5 (when Jena's theatre valentines party had ended,) I get a text from Gary asking about Gigi's Valentine party.  I hadn't planned for Jena to attend since usually she doesn't get done with theatre until 6 when it starts, but today because of the change of time, she was available and she wanted to go.  So Gary drove her to Layton and dropped her off-- As she was getting out of the car, she said to Gary:  "Now you can go home and have a romantic date with mom."  Gary was feeling bad because, as I mentioned, we had agreed to do nothing this year.  When he walked in the kitchen and saw the table, he laughed and said that now Jena will be happy.  We cooked a pizza and enjoyed a quiet evening together before getting Jena from her party. Gary said that first thing she asked him when she got in the car was did we have a romantic time together and he told her yes.  (It doesn't take much to keep us happy.)  And she did love the display when she got home!

We are lucky to have Jena in our lives to remind us to take a minute and share more love with each other.  (And, I didn't forget our sweet grandchildren who all got cards and a book in the mail for the holiday.)

And Happy Valentine's to all of you, family and friends who we love dearly.