This week's writing prompt for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop is:
5.) Valentine's Day is coming...share a favorite Valentine's tradition
Or something that I think is close to it... I guess we'll find out!
Yes.
Valentine's Day is fast approaching and yes, many couples have special little things they do, traditions they observe, unwritten rules they follow, to commemorate their love on this special day of the year, on Valentine's Day.
HeMan Hubby and I have been married almost 15 years now.
We lived together for a year or so before we got married, and had spent all of our savings on the down payment for the house we had built and just moved into when we discovered that the flu the family had come down with the weekend we moved into the new house was indeed, not the flu in my case, but rather would turn out to be TeenBoy, our now 15 year old son, who was born in December, 8 months after we moved in.
I was working nights and HeMan Hubby was working days so we only saw each other in our sleep, or so it seemed.
That first Valentine's Day in the house, which was also TeenBoy's first Valentine's Day ever, the older kids were with their dad so I planned a romantic dinner just for the 2 of us, to be eaten after TeenBoy was put to bed for the evening but before I had to take a nap for work that night.
Lasagna, a salad and chocolate mousse with a lovely blush wine were on the menu for the evening... the stage was set.
Candles were lit, china and stem ware glistened in the flickering glow, the aroma from the oven was delicious and the wine was perfectly chilled and ready to be enjoyed.
Everything went as planned.
HeMan Hubby came home from work and I sent him to the shower to freshen up. TeenBoy nursed and went to sleep on schedule, he was good that way back then, unlike now when he ignores all schedules and rules... but I digress...
And so we enjoyed what I was sure would be the first of many romantic Valentine's dinners to come... perfect food, perfect company, perfect wine... and then...
A perfect case of hives.
Yes, I had become allergic to the wine somewhere along the last 11 months. What with the pregnancy and then breast feeding it had been awhile since I'd had a glass of wine but the thought that I would become allergic to my favorite wine never occurred to me.
The rest of the evening was a blur of benedryl and calling off work for that night, HeMan Hubby sitting at my side watching me breathe and applying cool compresses to the hives over my face and chest while I dozed off and on waiting for the numbness and swelling in my lips and neck to go away.
Yes, it was a romantic evening that started a tradition... okay it was neither romantic, nor the start of any Valentine's Day tradition.
The following year I was pregnant with BratChild and still working nights so...
and the year after that we spent the day at my ex-mother-in-law's funeral after her very sudden and unexpected death which left me devastated...
followed by dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant on the waterfront and then home to a house without children.
The 3 oldest were with their dad for the funeral and wake and the 2 little ones were with their grandmother for the night so...
8 and a half months later SIX was born.
Since that Valentine's Day in 1998 we have been too busy or too poor to do anything as a couple. We do not exchange gifts. We do not have a special dinner. We do not do anything different from any other day of the year.
Perhaps this year, now that the kids are older and we are not as poor as we once were, perhaps this year we can do something special. Something romantic. Something just for grown-ups.
Dinner and dancing? An over-night stay at a local B&B? A romantic mid-night supper by candle light in front of the fire after the kids have gone to bed?
I don't know, but perhaps this is the year we will start a tradition... perhaps.
