What I Learned On Valentine's Day 2007

Since we celebrate Valentine's Day later this week I thought I would post this little prose piece I wrote after my Valentine's Day experience last year. Yes, I cried as I read through it a year later. It seems my days of holding babies really is past. I am blessed occasionally to hold my two pre-schoolers as they sleep but they are much bigger now and harder to hold on to. Such is life.

The best laid plans of mice and men and frazzled stay-at-home moms do often go astray. I had it all worked out. My parents were going to keep our two boys Valentine’s night so that my husband David and I could have a nice romantic evening out. We were going to go see "Phantom of the Opera" (the movie) at the Paramount Theatre downtown. It was going to be great.

But as I said things don’t always go as planned. At 2 a.m. my youngest son woke up crying and as I entered the room I was greeted by an odor which told me immediately that he had an upset stomach. My first thought and hope was that it was just something that he ate but as he continued to have dry heaves about every 30 to 40 minutes for the rest of the night I knew it was something more and I knew my plans had changed. Was I upset? Sure. Was I tired? Very. Was I taught a lesson that God could not have taught me any other way? Of course.

I learned on Valentine’s day that I am very blessed. Now this is something that I already knew but somehow the reality of it sometimes gets lost like the important papers that occasionally get shuffled under all the other stuff on my kitchen table and God had to clean house to make me wake up and smell the blessings. My first blessing came as I called my mom to tell her about our night and she and my dad drove over to pick up my first born and feed him breakfast in their car as they took him back to their house to stay the rest of the day and night. I didn’t have to figure out how to feed him in front the other little guy who needed his mom and wanted to eat but wasn’t allowed to put anything in his tummy for two more hours. I didn’t have to stay awake and take care of the first born while running on very little sleep. I’m very spoiled. I have been for 32 years now and I figure, why stop now I’m on a roll. My parents will tell you that I, like their grandboys, am not spoiled just well loved. I think that’s a good way to look at it.

When my baby finally stopped with the dry heaves at 8:30 a.m. or so and fell asleep I was able to eat a little breakfast and then nap with him. And so the day went. He kept down his fluids and napped with mom off and on all day long. His tummy stayed settled. All those horrible worst-fear kind of thoughts that the enemy has hidden in the back corners of my mind about him not getting better and ending up in the hospital hooked to an IV never came true and I know I am blessed.

I was reminded of another blessing as my husband walked in the door after work. Our boys have a great dad who loves them with a godly love. Though he had also looked forward to a just-the-two-of-us kind of evening he was also grateful just a have a little guy on the mend. So we backed up and punted. We used a coupon we got via email from PaPa John’s and ordered pizza online. David left and picked up his Valentine’s day gift from me, the movie "Cars." I had 'planned' to pick it up after dropping the boys off with my parents. And we sat in our home, eating our pizza, watching our movie, and watching our youngest blessing play in the floor with his toys. Half way through the movie and after my pizza was gone my baby climbed up in my lap and fell asleep. And my biggest blessing of all this Valentine’s day was being made to realize that there will be many other date nights but the nights I get to hold a sleeping baby just praising God he’s happy and healthy are but a few.

Anytime God needs to change my plans to make me see clearly through tear stained eyes the blessing my children and my husband are in my life I welcome the change. I’m so glad He knew the plans he had for me this Valentine’s day.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9