Remembering a most Romantic Valentines Day

Long before this Valentines Day  2013 there were some unhappy times.

I had a failed marriage of 20 years and I was recreating my world

as a single mother of three sons, trying to make a new home for us

and working very hard to pay the bills and all that goes along with that.

So when Valentines Day rolled around today I was reflecting on 

what it means to be loved and to share this day with someone in the truest sense.

I feel so happy and fulfilled having my husband for my partner~

and I won't forget about how it was Valentines Day in 2003.

My little story setting is this:  I purchased a duplex and the boys and I 

lived in one side while I had a tenant living on the other.

It was a small but cute house that I had fixed up and we got 

comfortable and cozy in our new space.  However I was sad as that 

Valentines day approached to be alone without a love in my life.

Valentines Day is the day that is a relentless reminder of how 

great it is to be in love and part of a couple.

Little did I know my youngest son Colin was well aware

that on this day of romance and flowers his mom was going to 

be shut out....I just wish I had a photo to share, but since I don't I will try to describe it 

so you can be there with me in my mind as I go back that morning.

My little bedroom was painted a light apple green with white lace panels hanging from 

the two corner windows so it would be as bright and cheerful as it could be. I had a silver iron 

bed that I found at Bombay company and I dressed it in white matelasse spread.  

~china cabinet I used to use as a clothing closet~

The closet was so tiny I bought a tall skinny french china cabinet to store

all my sweaters which I folded and sorted by colors.  This china closet is now

in our dining room, as is the bombe chest I used for my dresser.  The small rooms was tight 

quarters with these three pieces but it was pretty and romantic.  There was a bathroom inside the bedroom which was pretty neat, as this house was built in 1889~and originally it was the only bathroom 

in the house.  So it felt very English to have this vintage bath right off my bedroom. 

So anyway, this Valentines Day I was just determined to get through it.  I would

solider on with the belief that my Mr. Right was out there somewhere....

I started my day with a lovely hot shower but I couldn't dismiss the melancholy.

After showering and toweling dry, I wrapped my towel about me and one for 

my hair, turban style and exited the tiny bathroom...and as I opened the door

I saw the sweetest thing EVER!  

My littlest son Colin was on bended knee with a small black velvet box.

He was 12 years old.  He said to me, "Will you be my Valentine?"

Awww, my heart just melted~it was the sweetest thing I think any of my kids have

ever done for me.  My heart melted and I felt so lucky to have such

a thoughtful and caring son.  I think of him sharing this special

holiday someday when he marries a lucky girl.  Yes she will be lucky indeed.

Inside the box?  

A pair of cubic zirconia diamond earrings!

He wanted to buy real diamonds for me he told me, but 

I told him that these were more special than real diamonds would ever be.

In just two months time I would meet my forever man, David.

I call him Mr. Maison Decor on these pages~but Dave is 

one in a million and I am so lucky to have found him.  That Christmas in 2003 I snapped 

a photo of him at our duplex kitchen table (we only had two rooms on the first floor,

an eat in kitchen and a tidy living room). I was falling madly in love

with him and hoped he was falling for me too.

Look how young Colin is next to Dave.  Brandon stands next to Colin~

they are wearing their neckties that was always our Christmas Eve tradition.

Dave would become their beloved step-dad in two years time. 

My days of bouncing around from house to house with my sons as 

a single mom trying my best to make a life for us all,

would soon be coming to an end.  

We would be a real family with a happy ending!

So believe in love~

because it really can come true!

Happy Valentines Dave~I love you!