Chocolates and Pearls

Contrary to reports, I’m still alive and kicking. I’ve been under the weather for the last few weeks, leaving my creativity as dry as my parched throat. But now I’m feeling human and ready to think of something besides cough drops and vitamin C.

Next week brings us the highlight of January and February—Valentine’s Day. Not only is it a day for romance and chocolates, but when February 14 is over, there are only two more weeks before March, the unofficial end of winter. And trust me, it can’t come soon enough!

I have a Valentine’s Day story for you. I’m sure you all have a touching, loving, or funny story about this day, but here’s mine.

Many years ago, I was married to John, the father of my children. One February he was in the hospital for removal of calcium buildup in his knee. Because he was a hemophiliac, every procedure he needed done required a trip to the hospital where plenty of plasma was at the ready for a transfusion, if necessary.

The days turned into weeks and on Valentine’s Day, I entered his hospital room bearing a box of chocolate-covered cherries for him. We’d had our differences over the years which left me in tears more times than I can remember, but hope for things improving always lurked on the horizon.

So, when I gave him the chocolates that snowy Valentine’s Day, he reached into the drawer by his bed and handed me a small box. I opened it to find a most beautiful necklace. He said he’d had a nurse buy it for him. He went on to say the three pearls represented our three children—Tammy, Cyndi, and Mike, and the heart represented our love. I put it on immediately and wore it every day after that.

A few days later, I got home from the hospital and realized my necklace wasn’t around my neck. I scoured the house and the car, but it was nowhere to be found. I was heartbroken. By the third day, my stepmom suggested I put an ad in the newspaper’s lost and found section. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I did just that.

Imagine my surprise when I received a call from a man saying he’d found the necklace in the snow outside the hospital and had been checking the lost and found section every day. He was about to give up looking when he saw my ad. And no, he said, he didn’t want a reward; he just wanted to return the necklace to it's owner.

To this day, I have the necklace, not the husband, but the necklace. And that’s my Valentine’s Day story. What’s yours?

Quote of the Day: True love stories never have endings. Richard Bach