on valentine's day

Valentine's Day. Fourth grade. Remember?

Two weeks before Valentine's Day, the teacher sent home a list of all the kids in class. The rules were that everyone had to get a Valentine. It was important that no one was left out. Then, you bought those perforated Valentines with four cards to a sheet. And you gave careful consideration to the the cards you chose for each kid on the list - or ran the risk of giving the wrong message to the wrong classmate. The day of: You delivered your Valentines to everyone's desks into shoe boxes covered in red construction paper. In the afternoon, someone's mom brought cupcakes, and everyone opened their Valentines.

This evening, Ben had class. So I had a date with my nephews, and my brother and sister-in-law had their own date. Then, my Mom, Dad and Tim decided to come over for chili. Mom brought giant cupcakes from Whole Foods heaped with buttercream frosting, and we split a bottle of wine. The nephew (who is nearly three) insisted this evening was a party. And everyone knows that a good party needs party hats. So he came over with a package of them.

And there we were, four grown adults sipping wine in Sponge Bob party hats. I got to see my brother, Tim, who I've been missing a lot lately. And we sat around the table talking for a long time after dinner. With the exception of Ben's absence, it was a near-perfect Valentine's Day.