A RED HEART, CANDY, AND ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Warning:  My usual process is to pull up a blank blog page, put the date on…at that point I realized the 14th is Valentine’s Day…and add a title.  This is the title which appeared and I have absolutely no idea where this is going or in what order a red heart, candy and kidding me will appear. 

June 4, 2020 will be our 55th Anniversary.  During that time, some Valentine’s Day were spent looking into each other’s eyes, as we held hands in a very nice restaurant.  (Of course, in the beginning the “very nice restaurant” was our kitchen.  No money!)  Some Valentine’s Days were preceded by writing the names of every child in our kid’s class, on those Valentine envelopes which usually had a minimal amount of glue on them -- which resulted in the envelope coming apart when the sweet “You are my friend forever, Happy Valentine’s Day” card was stuffed in by a first grader.  And said first grader took an extremely long time to print their name.  Well, the daughter took a long time.  The son did not care so much about his signature and whipped those cards out in no time. 

We have spent Valentine’s Day in Indiana, Michigan, and Alabama.  Two years ago, we were in Alabama and were holding hands as we walked down the hall to our hotel room.  (Yes, we still hold hands.)  The nice gentleman sweeping the hall asked how long we had been married.  Then asked what room we were in.  Fast forward to after our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner.  We opened the door to our room and there on the desk – here comes the “are you kidding me? – was a bottle of bubbly, two wine glasses, and some fancy candy.  A fun and enjoyable surprise.

Candy?  The Sweetheart candies began in 1866 and today over 8 billion flow into stores where they sell out in six weeks.  Question 1:  Is there anyone who really likes the special heart candies that will last from February 14 till the ants come in during the summer.  Not sure they eat them either, but when you see ants on them, it is okay to throw the candy away.  Question 2:  The words started out with Be Mine, but later included such romantic phrases as Email Me and Fax Me.  Do you sort through the candies to find the one which conveys your undying love?  If not, you might want to reconsider.  The gleam in the eyes of your sweetie might change from loving to confusion, if the candy heart says chill out.

What about the red heart?  I have a very old, red, heart shaped, candy box.  It belonged to my mother.  I like to imagine my dad, handing her the box, and --- taking the first piece.  Hey, he liked candy!  My parents, like most parents of their generation, were not lovey, dovey and rarely said, “I love you.”  But that box!  That box tells me that my daddy loved my mommy.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

The End.