To My Funny Valentine

Valentine.... my funny valentine.....

Funny, how things change over the years.

Valentine's Day used to be full of roses, candy and gifts, the more the better, and don't forget dinner, too.

Now, it's the little things that mean so much more to me.

Like when you make me a snack, or get me a refill on my water, letting me sleep in while you drive the kids, or maybe picking me up a coffee from Dunkin Donuts.  

These are now the things that make me happy!

Dinner out would be nice, too, but it isn't always something we can arrange, and I know that.

I keep thinking about Lee's.  I have wanted to go there again for a while.  It never seems to be the right time.  I have been ribbing you about it, but I know it isn't all your fault.

We used to go there when dating and engaged and very early in our marriage.  I can't remember the last time we ate there.

It isn't that I miss the Pan Fried Wontons with their particular Black Oyster Sauce, as much as I miss the simplicity of our past represented by popping in there for a quick meal. 

The simplicity of not having to be anywhere else! 

Not having the time constraints we do now.  Not having to juggle our schedules, kids schedules, and getting home for a babysitter or to let my parents off the hook.

Back then, dinner could be for an hour or three.  Didn't matter.

That is what I miss the most.  That essence of timelessness. 

I guess someday, when our nest is empty we will have that back again, to a degree.  Yet, I know it is never thesame. 

I see that with my parents. 

Yes, once I was grown they could go out and do what they wanted and come home late, but is your child ever really far from your mind?  Or your house or your pets?

No, it is never like in your youth, in the fresh beginning of those magical years, before the responsibility really hits. 

So, that is what I really want.  To go to Lee's.  To eat Pan Fried Wontons and to revisit for an hour or so that simpler time.

'Time in a Bottle', we hit the nail on the head with that as our wedding song, didn't we, babe?

Happy Valentine's Day, Honey.

Dawn