Valentine's Day

I've been thinking of a few things today.... mainly about how we think we have to give people huge gifts for Valentine's Day. I decided that I was going to give people I love my time and attention as a gift. Therefore, I am going to dinner with my Dad on Monday. I purchased Steven's favorite candy bar (Zero) and gave it to Madeline so she could give it to him. I told him that I love or marriage. My plan for Madeline is that I am going to make a tent city with her in the living room tomorrow. My Mom, I need to work on, so I'll leave that off here.

This is the thing, when I think of being a kid, I don't remember the big gifts people gave me... I remember times I spent with people. These things I do remember - my Dad taking me to work with him (soooo coooool), my Mom working at my school (awesome), my Grandpa taking me for a drive in the truck (he let me steer), my Grandma making me fried chicken, my sister and I playing in a dead tree stump (literally) in the back yard...... Did I receive cool things? Absolutely! Was I happy with them? Sure. Am I grateful? Forever. But were the gifts the most important things? No way.

Today I asked Madeline what her favorite part of the day was - she said when she gave the other kids their Valentines and they said "Thank You Thank You Madeline". My daughter's favorite thing was giving. I want to keep it that way!