Love, Ann

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This is the week to show those you love that they are special to you. In reality we should do this each and every day. This year, this day, is especially significant for me. My husband is doing well. I couldn't and shouldn't ask for more. We are a fortunate family. My daughter is weathering this storm well. How lucky can I be? I try very hard to keep things in perspective. A life altering event can do that for you. It should do that for you.

Today was a great day at our house. We got up and went to church together. We saw and talked with many of our friends. Supportive people. We are lucky and we are loved. After church I did something that I hardly ever do. I took my girl to the mall. On the ride home from church I offered up the idea. Scott asked what we needed at the mall. I answered as vaguely as possible. I said, it's not so much what we need, but perhaps more what we want. I am visualizing shoes in my future is what I said. And then I reinforced it with the comment that a girl can never have too many shoes. A tiny reply from the backseat came to us. From our girl came the words, it's true. We laughed for a long time. Such words of wisdom.

After leaving Scott off at home we were mall bound. I'm not much of a shopper and gave Gracie instructions as to how long we would be at the mall and how many stores we should enter. This may sound harsh, but it is with a reason. My girl would shop all day and night if she could. And believe me she tried. We left at approximately eleven. We both had shoes in our possession within a half hour of entering the mall. Silly me to think that we would be on our way. Of course we had to go to the cupcake shop. We bought some to bring home and shared one in the shop. If that wasn't enough, we decided to go to one of our favorite places for lunch, too. Loosened the belt a bit. And then the negotiations began. One more store? And we did this and came home with three more pairs of shoes that just had to be ours.

So four hours after leaving home, we were officially tired, had walked off the food we consumed and had single handedly boosted the economy. This was my Valentine gift to her. Doing something totally unexpected. She loved it and I did, too. It gave Scott the afternoon to relax. I have to say overall the day was what we all needed or should I say wanted. I think my favorite part was that I did something totally out of the ordinary. Something that Gracie wouldn't have expected. And the fun we had was priceless. During this week of love, let's all remember to love in unexpected ways. They don't even have to include spending money. Just send the message that you are in love. With them. Your friends and your family. And to all of you I say, Happy Valentine's Day. Thank you for being part of my life. Thank you for enriching me by doing unexpected things. Thanks for loving me. I love you, too.