Sunday was Valentine’s Day and the kids were very excited to celebrate. And who wouldn’t like a celebration that involves candy, donuts and presents?
Valentine’s Day, of course, has its origins in notably darker places than the modern-day hearts, cards and Cupids. Many people believe the holiday has its roots in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, the festival of the wolf, which was celebrated fertility and involved lots of wild parties and public nudity.
For some reason, when the church tried to put a religious face on old holidays, they gave this one to a saint who got beheaded and made it all about the love. Last week, when Amelia told me they were learning trivia about the history of Valentine’s Day, I wondered what PG version of any of this there could be? Did they focus on the headless guy or the toga-free Roman parades?
But we did have a nice family friendly celebration at home. I ventured out in the cold to get some donuts, and the kids got some fun gifts. Henry got a PAW Patrol vehicle and Amelia got a cool hairstyling chair for her dolls.
Islay also had a great morning, getting to play in a gift bag, licking bacon grease in the dishwasher and chewing on a price tag.
We had a nice breakfast, and while the morning was fun, the afternoon was a little sadder because we had to say goodbye to Auntie Kallin. It was time for her to head back home to Chicago, so we drove her to the airport and said our goodbyes.
All of us were sad, and it hit Amelia in particular. We talked about how hard it is to say goodbye to those we love, but that we’ll see her again and stay in touch.
Back at home, the kids played together really nicely while Erin and I actually grabbed a rare nap.
When I came down, Amelia told me that she talked to Henry about how sad it was to say goodbye to Kallin, and that Henry then gave her a hug and made her feel better. As she told me this, he turned to her again and said, “Are you feeling better, Amelia?”
If you heard something pop while reading that, it was probably my heart bursting from a mixture of pride and cuteness overload.
A little later, I made dinner and while I was prepping, I suddenly found this card on the counter. Amelia made it and dropped it off for me.
It made me smile and I always love Amelia’s cards. She made another one earlier in the week, and it was super adorable of course. I told her how much I loved it, and with a very straight face she said, “I didn’t have any glue, so I wasn’t able to put on any googly eyes. Maybe another time.”
I love this attention to detail. “Yeah, Dad, the card is pretty good, even without the googly eyes.”
In the end, I suppose most everything is made better with pasted on googly eyes. I may put some on my next report to my board of directors.
Anyway, here’s hoping everyone out there had a lovely Valentine’s Day and a Beatus Lupercalia.
