Valentine’s Day Week, 2025.
Two working parents with high-stress weeks.
Kids are 12 and 9 year old:
2 weeks ago: Buy Sour Patch Valentines for the 3rd grader. The bag sits on the kitchen table undisturbed. Miraculous.
Wednesday (2 days ago): 3rd grade teacher posts that they will have a brief Valentine party on Friday. Note to self–pick up a treat to share. 3rd grader made and applied name labels for Valentines with help from grandmother after school while I unexpectedly worked in Nashville 2 hours later than planned.
Yesterday morning: 6th grader tells me he’d like to go to the store to purchase a Valentine gift for his new sweetheart. He has sports practice until 5:00 and we have plans immediately after that. No prob!
Yesterday morning: After school drop offs I run to Walmart to purchase Valentine gifts from me for the 2 children and husband AND cupcakes for the 3rd grade class. Get home and quickly grab a Sharpie to draw a large heart for each family member on sheets of construction paper so we can write love notes to each other. When? I don’t know.
Last night: 3rd grader inspired to make a very niche Valentine collection box for herself: A Bernese mountain dog. Woof. Supplies come out, shoebox found, used all my printer ink to print a full page face photo of a Bernese mountain dog. We get 3/4 finished and need to leave for parent-teacher conferences, Walmart for Brother, and then dinner plans.
5:07 pm: Arrive at Walmart after conferences and sport pick up; Husband pulls up out front so Brother and I can run in with all 4,000 other shoppers and “quickly” find a gift.
5:17 pm: Gift secured. Back to the car. Go to dinner plans.
Get home at 8:49 pm: Sister needs to finish Valentine box. Dog looks great. I glued the second construction paper ear on crooked and made it too short so now I shall never be forgiven and she will be embarrassed forever. Finish at 9:11 pm. Begin considering “Valentine clothes options” with the 3rd grader who has 3 Valentine-themed shirts but “nothing to wear that is right.”
Today, 6:45 am: 3rd grader decides to wear a summer shirt with hearts on it with her finest, French-made wool cardigan that she normally refuses to wear. I decide to keep my thoughts to myself.
Today, 6:54 am: Leaving home late, as usual, grabbing the Valentine cupcakes and wonky-eared Bernese mountain dog Valentine box, tossing them into an Aldi bag, and running to the car.
7:05 am: Drop 3rd grader at car rider line and realize we FORGOT THE ACTUAL VALENTINES as she’s getting out of the car.
7:18 am: Back home to get 6th grader rolling.
7:37 am: Grab Sister’s Valentines and we stop BACK at her school on the way to Brother’s school. One perk of having big kids: I could pull up in the parking lot and have him run in to the front office to drop off the Valentines.
7:55 am: Back home. Realize no one filled out love notes and my gifts for each family member are still in a box in the closet where I left them yesterday.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
COMMENTS