I forget that my husband is a true Romantic!  And I feel terrible I had such a bum attitude about celebrating valentines.  Here is how my day unfolded yesterday….  sorry girls…. I must admit, my husband put on quite the display……  Don’t feel like you have to read all of this but I thought I owed it to my husband to detail his creativity.  He was and is simply amazing! JWhen I got home from work attached to our bed were 5 helium balloons and inside each balloon was a note.    On the bottom of the balloons was a red paper heart that read the following…. 

Invitation to Be My Valentine I tried and tried and tried to find the perfect way To say how much I love you on this Valentine’s DayBut nothing seemed to do it the way I wanted it tooUntil I thought about the memories created by me and youSo today, I invite you on a journey to recreate our pastAnd remember how love binds us and how to make it last.The balloons will lead the way and tell us where to goBut we must play along and reminisce about what we knowStart thinking now of memories and of how our love beganGet ready for our evening—let’s fall in love again

The sitter arrived at 7 and we were out the door with the balloons.  As we left the driveway I was to pop the first balloon and here was the message….

Memory #1We’ve never had much money, but we’ve always had great tasteSo we’ll go to get our dinner as we begin our dateBut this dinner has no candles because we’re getting it to goWe’ll remember the first night we were married—so tell me if you know. 

Activity: Talk about the day we were married—what we remember the most about that day. Remember all the people who stood beside us at our wedding. Remember our honeymoon. Remember our first apartment and talk about all our experiences in the first phase of our marriage.

“On our wedding day, after we got to our room we were tired and hungry so we ordered our favorite.  Thin crust dominoes pizza with Pepperoni, Bacon and Mushroom.  So we headed off to Dominoes to get our pizza to go and all along talked about our memories of our wedding day.  Once we got our pizza I was to pop the 2nd balloon.  And here is what it said….”

Memory #2Now that we have eaten and we are on our wayIt’s time for us to recreate and think about our first real dateI wonder if you remember what we did and where we wentYou might not because you lost that night but here’s your only hint:Your little girl named Emma loves to play it with her dadWhen she doesn’t get a hole in one it really makes her mad 

Activity: Play eighteen holes of miniature golf at Frankies. Whoever loses each hole must tell the other one reason he or she loves him or her. In the event of a tie—they both must tell each other one thing they love about the other person.

“Dave and I met my freshman year of college.  We went out on one date and then never talked again for a year.  My sophomore year we reconnected through common friends and in a long process began to date.  On our first official date, we went putt putting and then to an ice cream shop in Palm Beach called Sprinkles.  So we played a round of putt putt at Frankie’s (very cold) and for me…18 comments later of why I love my husband… I was lead to pop the next balloon.  And let me just say at this part of the night… I really began to realize how much routine and kids just make you get in a mode and often times you forget to really be with your spouse for than just live with them…   It was a really great time and lots of kisses as well!  OK next balloon….

Memory #3We’ve played a round of putt-putt now, but it wouldn’t be completeIf we didn’t finish our first date together without some more to eatSo tonight we go to get desert and remember our long talksOn the edge of the inter-coastal waterway, eating as we walkedBeneath the stars we laughed as they went twinkle, twinkleIt was the best ice cream in the world—from a place that was named __________ 

Activity: Head to Cold Stone for some ice cream. If the weather is right, walk around the shops and talk about our time in West Palm. If it is cold outside eat in Cold Stone and talk about West Palm. Could you have imagined your life now—back then? 

Off to coldstone for my favorite ice cream… Coffee!  We just kept talking and talking about all of our college days…..  Then after ice cream I popped balloon number 4 

Memory #4We’ve busted both our diets now, but I think we’d both agree Diets can’t get in the way of memories of you and meSo now we’re headed to another place—a trip we took just us twoAt the beginning of our romance—a place where our love grewIt was a place that you knew well—you shared it with a kissWe got our picture there on a boat right in the Mist 

Activity: Niagara Falls is one of the seven wonders of the world and where we took our first trip together. What are the seven wonders of our journey together? Make a list of seven things in our relationship that leave us speechless as we stare at Reedy River Falls.

I used to live in Cuba, NY and we were about 2 hrs from Niagara falls so on the first visit that Dave made to NY to see my family we made a trip to the falls.   In Greenville, SC they have the Reedy River Falls so we drove there and looked at them and kept remembering.  We talked about 7 wonderful things of our journey together that leave us speechless… Some were… Our children, our community of friends, family, picking up and leaving Birmingham etc….  We then got back in the car and headed on our way home… then there was another balloon to pop on our way….

Memory #5Our love grew up one summer, we both know that summer wellOur guarded hearts moved way before our mouths used words to tellI said some secret words on some covers in the grassJust a field out in a school yard—can’t believe how much time has passedBut the question I have for you now as we move to our next spotIs “Do you remember what those words were?”—there words we use a lot. 

Activity: Listen to our song and say I love you again out in the parking lot of Reidville Elementary School. Remember the nervousness of the first time we told each other what our hearts already knew. Think about how much that love has grown.

Dave and I had been dating for a very long time before either of us uttered the words I LOVE YOU.  I think it was because we both knew if that moment came that… it meant our lives not just a moment.  We were working camp together one summer at Anderson University in SC and during that time we snuck away one evening to sit under the stars in the field of an elementary school.  This is where Dave first told me he loved me.  So as we sat outside the school around the corner from us Dave played 2 songs that I had not heard in such a long time… They were our songs and we talked about the meaning of them and their significance to us.  Then we headed home with only 1 balloon left to pop.   

Memory #6It’s getting late now and as you see we’re on our last balloonWhere will our journey take us? And why does it have to end so soon?We’re headed home now but let’s not let this journey endOur house is not our house tonight—what do you say let’s just pretendOn a pallet in the living room our parents have no clueThat we are making out just like we use to doDownstairs at your house–by the kitchen in mineThe only difference now is that we both believe in wine. 

So we headed home and had some wine and hung out for a while.   I just wanted to thank my husband for such a wonderful night.  It was very simple and very inexpensive and wonderful.  I so appreciated all his thought and time into our special evening.  It’s one I won’t forget for some time!