Valentine’s Day is still a special day for me as a widow. Before my husband’s passing, he had a hard time knowing how to celebrate our special day. He quickly learned that I was allergic to flowers, perfume, and chocolate and that I preferred sweats to anything frilly or enticing for night ware. So, with food being my love language, he could always win my approval with a dinner out.
What does one do when their mate is no longer there on this special day? I have found even more delight in bringing a touch of love and appreciation to others, especially women in my same situation. That is why I make an effort on Valentine’s Day and other holidays to treat my neighbors with various tokens of affection.
This year I made an effort to make some valentine creations in the form of crocheted heart-shaped baskets for my Mexican Train group. I have to admit that due to my dyslexia kicking in, I was severely challenged and kept getting confused on which row of instructions I was on. I kept tearing out stitches and starting over to the point of wearing out my yarn. I finally cut a rectangular-shaped piece out of a sheet of cardstock so I could clip it onto the appropriate row.
This worked well, but I still had trouble completing the instructions for forming the walls of the basket. At last, I concluded that I would stop at the heart-shaped basket’s bottom side and crochet two hearts together to form a different type of container. Inside that container, I would place heart-shaped sugar cookies.
The cookie-making process went on without a hitch. However, I had forgotten about frosting them until 10:00PM the night before. I quickly got out all the frosting ingredients, including some decades-old food coloring. In my haste, I drew out what I thought was red, which unfortunately turned out to be yellow. It was only a few drops, but the damage had been done.
Maybe I could cover it with red, I thought as I quickly grabbed the crimson color. Oh no, I can’t get it open. I struggled and finally totally dismantled the top to get to the desired color. However, while splotching more and more red on top of the pale yellow, my frosting became a brighter and brighter yellow. Oh well, it was worth a laugh. and I could still place one of my red candy hearts on it.
Now on to the most important part—the greeting card. Women of my era truly appreciate cards, unlike the current generation and most men of all ages. So, I knew the ladies would appreciate receiving samples from my card program, suited to their individual personalities.
So, this is my blessing and my new way of celebrating Valentine’s Day. My true love, Jesus, encourages me to love others in all sorts of ways, which leads them to love Him. He is the author of unconditional love. I consider this the best way to celebrate Valentine’s Day as well as every day of the year.