Revelation

Last night I put my elementary school knowledge to work, got out some construction paper, and cut out paper hearts - big ones, medium ones, and little ones, pink ones, purple ones, yellow ones, green ones and orange ones.  Then I taped them to the kitchen walls.  I taped a few to the kitchen table and then made confetti for the very middle of the table.  The table still looked cavernously brown and mostly ho-hum when I was done - it was certainly nothing to gush to Martha Stewart about - but I felt excited.  Then spouse-who-I-just-really-really-really-like and I wrote love letters to each kid on a heart and left it for them on the breakfast table.

Sidekick Sister had me read her note to her two or three times today.  I asked the Little Linebacker when I was done reading if he liked his note, and he said with his in-born enthusiasm, "Yeah!"  Captain Kindergarten couldn't sit still for the whole reading, but he had a shy, satisfied smile for as long as he could withstand the embarrassment.

I gushed to spouse-who's-so-much-more-collected-than-me that the kids loved their notes.  Really I was trying to get him to pat me on the back for actually celebrating a holiday since my career in motherhood to this point has been fairly lackluster in the holiday department.  He said, "Everybody needs to hear that they are loved."

That rang my bell.

Everybody needs to hear that they are loved.

I made a few more valentines today (again the turning of a new leaf) and took them to a couple of families who have been special to us in the last couple of years.  And it made it the best valentines day ever of all time to go about expressing my love like that.  I was Ginger Rogers dancing with Fred Astaire in sparkly red slippers.  I felt happy and breezy and feet-off-the-ground good.

I totally apologize if this is so twenty years ago for most of you good readers, but I kind of need to sing this discovery out on the rooftops.  I really and truly don't want to forget it: People like to know they're loved and it feels doggone good to tell them.

Three cheers for V-Day revelations.