Valentine's Day ~ A Whole New Perspective

You might be wondering why I am posting the picture of this not so fresh looking flower. Let me tell you a story of our Valentine's day this year...

Mr.TRH and I have big date night planned for end of this month. So we decided to stay home on the Valentine's day and do pizza & movie night as a family. He came home and just before we started eating, he gave me a flower and a card. It made me so happy, but I had hungry kids waiting to eat, so I set the card to the side and started serving the pizza. Then I noticed that Mr.TRH disappeared somewhere. When he came back to the kitchen again after a few minutes he had his hands behind his back.

At this point, the boys had already started to eat.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked. Then, he pulled out a white rose and gave it to our 8 year old daughter, Rachel. I was surprised, but Rachel had a shocked look (in a good way), she dropped her pizza and said "Thank you" in a small voice. It sounded like "thank you, but why?". I know this is the very first flower that she received just for herself in her life time.

During this time, her two older brothers were stuffing their faces with pizza, there was no sign of slowing down or stopping. Then Michael mumbled, "Is that real?".

While Rachel was still admiring the flower, Mr.TRH pulled out the other hand and handed her a card. This time, she gasped and said thank you and start opening her card (the boys continued to chomp down pizza). Then she read the card out loud with smile on her face. The card it self was cute and sweet, but Mr.TRH wrote how proud he was of her, and how she is growing up.

I thought, "ok, it is over I am going to sit down and start eating too." Then, I noticed that Rachel put the card on the table, both hand on her lap and her head bowed.

"Rachel, are you ok?" I asked.

She replied with a very weak voice. "The card is going to make me... cry..." Then, she started crying.

I knelt down beside her and asked, "Are you happy? Is that why you are crying?" She just nodded several times with tears streaming down on her cheeks.

Then, one of the boys asked "why is she crying?" STILL no sign of slowing down, well, I felt like they sped up on their eating pizza like "quick! Three of them are not eating, now is the chance... hehehe".

This was an unexpected reaction for Mr.TRH and I. The thoughtful act of a father's love touched his 8 year old girl's heart so much that she was crying. I was touched and I too started to tear up.

Of couse the boys kept eating while we were having this beautiful moment on the other side of the dining table; I just think it is so funny how boys and girls are so different. Even at such a young age.

The next few days Mr.TRH and I caught her looking at her flowers and card when she thought no one was watching. It was just so cute to know that meant so much to her. Also, the day after Valentine's day, she wrote "I love you mom and dad" with a heart on the white board in the office as a surprise. She is so blessed to have such a loving and attentive father. Mr.TRH is not a really romantic type person, but I told him several times he out did himself. What he did for our little girl, and how she received the gift made me feel warm inside. I thought that was way better than going out for Valentine dinner.

The flower will wither, but I know the loving gesture a father showed his daughter will have a lasting impact. I think I will never forget this Valentine's day.

P.S Are you all wondering if we gave anything to the boys? Yes we did. In the past, I gave them sweet cards, but I could tell they didn't care much about them. So I just gave them a heart shaped box of chocolates with message like "hugs" and "cool dude" and they were so excited. :)


If you haven't entered for a chance to win a $1000 gift card from Suave, make sure to check out my last post. Don't miss out!