On This Valentine's Day...

When I was a crazy-for-love variety of teenager (and even pre-teen), Valentine's Day brought a twisted sort of beautiful agony. (I was dramatic that way.) On the years I didn't have anyone to send me anything, the holiday was a depressing one, and yet I envisioned, with great hope, future years in which I would be with the "the one," and Valentine's Day would be the incredibly romantic day it was supposed to be.

That would be now, right? Married, with all the gorgeous children I had always wanted. Dear, romantic, overwrought girl of the past (channeling my friend Lisa now, who posted in a similar vein this week), let me tell you of my Valentine's Day this year. Starting in the early morning hours yesterday, Scarlett had succumbed to a stomach bug, so the day had been rough. She had recovered by late that evening, and had decided to play...until about 1:00am, which is also about the time Ryan began to have serious leg cramps that gave him (and his parents) a restless night. So we were all pretty tired when we woke up this morning. No, scratch that - Dave and I were zombie-tired. Somewhere in the midst of trying to pull myself together to get a semblance of a respectable day going, I remembered it was Valentine's Day. "I love, love, love all of you!" I assured the kids. (Even though I forgot to make you heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast!) Dave and I texted our love to each other. Oh, then, I also remembered that I was supposed to give a violin lesson sometime that day, but I couldn't remember when, and I didn't have their number to call them and suggest they stay far away. I even feel a little reluctant to post anything about this now, since I feel almost sure stomach viruses are contagious even over the Internet. Anyway, I looked around at the chaos that was our house, and at my state of dishevelment, and decided I had better do what I could.

But some of my children weren't having it. Scarlett was better physically, but still a little cranky, wanting to be held, and yet not in the sling, in a way that would have made it possible to do anything. Ryan wanted to make heart-shaped cookies. Right now. Please. Please. Please. And oh, by the way, can't we have heart-shaped cookies????? Now???? Repeat about a hundred times. Also, he was thirsty, but water, juice, and milk were "disgusting", and the only thing in the whole wide world he could possibly want was sweet tea. For breakfast, and I really had to put my foot down, even though he wanted to know why I wanted him "to die". Drew wanted to know if he could play the Wii. Also repeat many times. Aimee (bless her) and I were having our own moments throughout the day, and later she admitted that she was rather Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde-like throughout - and, in fact, very Mr Hyde where it concerned things like grammar. Ironically, Chase was the most laid-back and well behaved today, until he poured all the sprinkles I had bought for his birthday cupcakes onto the school room floor - and he and Ryan proceeded to eat them right off the floor.

Oh, and when my students arrived, I met them at the door with warnings about germs. They opted to stay for the lesson anyway, and I DO so hope all the precautions we took with them worked, because tonight after bedtime, after Dave and I had just settled everyone down and were just starting to contemplate relaxing (and I had started to enjoy a glass of some really lovely wine he had brought me from Chile), we heard the sound we had feared. Ryan had gone to bed full of excitement and hopes for his birthday tomorrow, but also looking rather green. So it wasn't a surprise when we heard that fateful sound. It was slightly more surprising when we heard it again, from Chase (who had just come into our bed, of course), and even a little more surprising (because these things usually space themselves out a bit more), when we heard it from Drew. But in the midst of escorting kids to the bathroom, gathering towels, and changing sheets, we had to give thanks that we are getting done with it all at once this time. Also, it has been a very long time since we've been visited this way, so I guess we were due for it.

And we also had to laugh a bit at the timing of paying those dues, on this Valentine's Day that has crashed into a fiery ball of flames. The most romantic thing being done for me this year is that Dave is cleaning up the worst of it, and while to my former self that may not seem like much, it's absolutely priceless now. Ah, the many expressions of love. Happy Valentine's Day, honey.