Valentine's Day w/o you?

As far as *big dates* go, I would not have listed today as one of them. C & I have never really done much for it, and we've been blessed with sharing it with Christine only a few times. I think last year was the first year she understood it…preschool and all. This a.m., a friend told me that she was very sad today because she would always share Valentines with her kids and she misses her lost son. So I began to think twice about the day. I had absolutely no apprehension leading up to today at all, like I did approaching Christmas. Then...

Yesterday, I was cleaning up the many piles of magazines/papers etc. that has been shuffled from the living room to the office/den since 10.30.05. We've saved things like the newspaper headlines from special days (We have a new Pope/Sox Win WS) for time capsules etc…and I get way too many engineering trade magazines…So, I finally broke down to weed through a single pile of about 6 to choose from.

As I created new piles from the one pile---keep, toss, take to work---I came across the one and only valentine Christine ever made/drew for me…I did not feel like crying that moment, so I left it there under the keep pile and moved on to whittle down that pile. Tonight, I pulled it out after dinner, looked at it quickly, put it on the piano and began to cry a bit as I shared it with C…but now I’m crying even more just thinking about it--—just got back from holding it, reading it and crying------------DAMN!!!!!!

It’s been in a pile for 364 days and then it appears to me the day before Valentines Day…damn eerie. I know Christine had a hand in leading me to it, even though I was not looking for it.

Thank you Christine for the love you’ve shown me today…I love you so much.

Daddy