February 14, 1997 / February 14, 2011 My First and Last Valentine

When I was single I HATED Valentine's Day.  Everyone I worked with or was friends with always got candy, flowers, jewelry, etc., from their significant other.  February 14, 1997 was the first time in my 36 years that I had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day.  I have to say Mel outdid himself.  Flowers were delivered, of course at work so everyone could ooh and aah over them, chocolates after work and finally dinner at a restaurant.  I was so over the moon in love with this man who treated me so good.  I told Nicole this week that her daddy had been my first Valentine.  She said "mom I think that's kinda sad".  When I asked her why she said "what if I have to wait that long to have a Valentine".  I told her I was so thrilled that my first true love was my first Valentine, and sometimes you have to wait to get the best gifts God has to give you.  He was like a little boy up to mischief all that day, in short he was pretty pleased with himself and my reaction to it all.  Mel was very romantic (except for my first Mother's Day, but that story will have to wait).

November 14, 2011, was very different.  Just after midnight February 14, 2011, Mel woke up and asked Deanna to take him shopping to get me something for Valentine's Day.  About 1:00 a.m. I came down to the living room.  I can still remember Mel's face, his bright blue eyes and him telling me Happy Valentine's Day, I love you so much.  We visited for a while. I told him he was my Valentine forever.  After a while I went back to bed.  Little did I know that would be the last thing Mel ever said to me that I could understand.  After that he would try to talk a little bit but I couldn't understand him.

That morning my mom came over and took the kids shopping for me for Valentine's Day.  She took Nicole to Sonic to get Mel a cherry coke, which was his favorite, and he drank the whole thing. 

I was so confused that day when he would try to talk and I couldn't understand him.  I thought the one side of his mouth was a little droopy and wondered if he might have had a stroke, but he was still able to drink liquids, and when I would rouse him he would come fully awake and look at me.  I was scared.

Aaron came by and brought the kids stuff for Valentine's Day.  He made them feel special.  Mel had always made a big deal about Valentine's Day.  Nothing big, just a little box of candy or a card for all of us.

Today (February 14, 2012) Deanna and I were talking and she was remembering Mel asking her to take her shopping for me.  She wondered what I would have thought if I had come downstairs and Mel, his bed and Deanna were gone.  She thought she could have gotten his bed in Butch's truck and taken off up the street to Walgreen's.  She laughed and said I would probably have thought the rapture and come and I would be pretty upset about not being ruptured too.  I told her I would have been mad, but my one saving grace was that Nicole would have still been in the living room asleep on the cough, and I knew of anyone would have been raptured it would have been Nicole.  I told her she could have just pushed his bed since it was on wheels and at least coming back home she could have jumped on and ridden down that hill with him.  Talk about a bed race.  I think Mel must have laughed in heaven today hearing us talk about this.

I am so thankful to God that Mel was my first, last and only Valentine.  He gave me the best He had to give, and I will be eternally grateful for the love we shared.

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
 ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

This scripture was read at our wedding, and the greatest gift of all really is LOVE.

[Deanna's Memories: I remember him asking me just after midnight on Valentines Day to take him to the store to get you a gift. What a thoughtful man.  Not that it's all about me...seriously! But I remember Mel telling Colie that he was so thankful that you had me and that I was the best friend he could ever want for you. (That sounds so narcissistic to say, I really don't mean it to be.)
I remember Mel was always in a good mood. He was thrilled by the simplest things. He could see a bright moon out the window one night and had Colie move the curtains so he could see it better. He found joy in each moment, none more so than when he looked at you, or held your hand]