Valentines Day...2011

Hello Friends,

Here's wishing you a very special and happy Valentines Day. Today was the first Valentines Day in forty years that I didn't have a plan in place. Oh, sometimes my plans didn't score too many points, but I always had a plan.

Our first Valentines Day was when we were dating in 1971. Trudy was a resident student at Northwestern State University in Natichitoches, Louisiana. The Baptist Student Union held a gala banquet on Saturday night and we dressed to the "nines" and joined the fun. Trudy wore a beautiful yellow dress complimented by what I referred to as: "Chantilly lace" (picture on the earlier entry of July 9, 2010, here on the blog). I wore a 1942 Tuxedo jacket that I bought from a clearance sale at the downtown Caplan's Men's Store. Trudy wore with grace and style, the pink carnation corsage that I presented to her and I wore the lovely white carnation boutonniere that she had gotten for me. I was sooooo proud to be her Valentine!

All through the years, Valentines Day was a very special celebration for us. I loved assembling roses, greenery, and baby's breath in a nice vase, which I would deliver to her room at Tioga High School. She would stop teaching and kiss me on the lips...right in front of her students! Predictably, they would then go, "awwwww." Then she would delicately place the bouquet prominently on her demonstration desk and carefully touch and adjust a few stems to make it "just so" as she introduced me to the class. Going on my way, I would wink at her and tell her that we had special reservations for Cajun Landing (somtimes, that is) for the evening. However, we also enjoyed setting out the china and crystal from our wedding gifts at our own dining table. I would grill some steaks and Trudy would put together some sides and we would delight in each other at our home-style Valentine banquet.

Too, there were always the church Valentine Banquets to enjoy. The picture is from the banquet at Twin Bridges Baptist Church, Alexandria, Louisiana, back in 2003. We decided to dress our best and no doubt about it, we were (well...she was) show-stopping fine!

On this day, I decided to face head-on, the emotions that inevitably would be present. I'm glad I did. The emotions were in full swing, but I felt God's grace as I embraced the moments. I found about 15 years of our cards...her's to me...mine to her...and was so amazed at how beautifully and poetically affirming she was of her relentless love for me. Then, I took an arrangement of roses to the cemetery to place at her grave (as an aside; I never knew how busy cemeteries are on Valentines Day!). Then this evening, I grilled a New York Strip steak, fixed some gourmet mac and cheese, some cut green beans, and some dinner bread...and carefully presented all of this on our china dinnerware accompanied with iced tea served in fine crystal. Though it was a solitary banquet meal, nothing could have been more fitting for me on this day, as I had in my heart to "celebrate" the 40th anniversary of our first Valentines Day. In my prayer before the meal and throughout the day, I have been so very thankful that I was the man that called Trudy...my Valentine! Thank you Lord, thank you!

Next time, perhaps, the final OKC years and the return to Louisiana.

Blessings,
Robert