Valentine's Shmalentine's

Valentine's Day used to be a big deal. In elementary school I would stress over what box of valentines to buy for school parties. Although many times my mother decided it for me by picking some up at a Christian book store bypassing my secular desire to hand out Saved by the Bell valentines to classmates.

*She will be calling me immediately after reading the above sentence to tell me that she always allowed me to pick out my own cards........at Mardel.*

The night before our class V-Day party I would strategically choose what cards to give to whom. I never wanted to give boys the idea that I was interested in carrying on a third grade relationship therefore I chose non-cryptic messages; something like a rabbit saying, "I Hop Your Valentine's Day is Great!". There was also a desire to not send the classroom mean girl a kind message that let her know I secretly approved of her bad behavior. A card that said, "I Think You're Terrific" would simply not do. Of course that card was reserved for the girl that always allowed me to play the female lead character in whatever imaginary scenario we had cooked up during recess.

As an adult the holiday has lost its appeal. I have grown to become a hater of all things cheesy and nothing says total cheese like the commercialized day of love.

This year the day had a whole different meaning; Monday. It was a bad day, no horrible. First of all, we had returned from a five day weekend from last week's snow so the phone calls and emails that had to be returned were insane. It is Girl Scout cookie time so things get really busy for the communications/marketing department - but normally a good busy because we get a crazy amount of publicity. I easily had 50 media alerts to get out by the end of the day in addition to planning a big event in conjunction with the LR Rotary on Tuesday. There were a few phone calls from reporters sprinkled in and an AR Dem Gaz reporter and photographer were both in the office working on a High Profile article about our CEO and the organization's upcoming 100th anniversary.

By the time I got home I was exhausted and in a very sour mood. V-Day was the last thing on my mind when I found a small note in Beau's handwriting on the counter that read, "Look in the fridge for a surprise."

This is what I found:

Although it was small (for commercial standards) there was no better gift I could have received from my husband. The strawberries tasted as delicious as they looked. It quickly made a bad day turn great.

Hope everyone had a good V-Day with their valentine, even if it is a cheesy holiday.