Me and Shaun have always had Valentines traditions. First of all we don't make a huge deal out of the day. I love an excuse to be sappy and lately it feels like I need to schedule romantic......but we don't let Halmark steal all the glory. Our first Valentines we put a 5$ limit on our gifts and were told to be creative. For me that was writing why I loved him on the back of every StarWars valentine in the box. For Shaun it meant bouncy balls and a bag of half eaten candy. So we upped the limit and threw the creativity clause out the window. Back in Lubbock we used to always go to Orlandos on Q ( because no one goes past University) and savored the mafia queso. Here we have always gone out the night or 2 before to skip the big crowds. Plus I am impatient and can never wait that long. With O and another on the way I was looking especially forward to a special date. Then we all got the flu. No one felt like eating out or going out or being even a little bit romantic. To give Shaun credit he got me a card, one from O and Starbucks card. I got him nothing ( I had the bathroom re-tiled so he didn't have to do it...does that count?). I planned to get a fun cookie cake from the mall and deliver it to him at work. But I couldn't get myself off the couch. ( He is the one who gave me the flu after all). Later that afternoon managed to bake some cupcakes. O added sprinkles but did not feel limited by red. I don't remember dinner. Possibly Quiznos. No candles. No restraunt. No steak dinner (which is fine by me, red meat makes me want to puke right now). I went to bed early determined to go to the work for the first full day all week on Friday. As I laid in bed watching cartoons with Owen I taught him to hold hands like a big boy. All five fingers intertwined, not me just holding on to the one. Every time I let go he said, "He said no mommy, hold hands". So I laid there, sick in bed before 9, with my hand engulfing his.....thinkning it wasn't such a bad Valentines after all.
I remember waking up the day after the election tired and stunned. When I got to work I went downstairs to make copies and make some tea and did not make it back to my classroom until right before the tardy bell rang. I have a large class, full of all kinds of students from all kinds of backgrounds. I had not even thought about how they would respond to the election and that since we begin school so early that I might be the first adult they saw that day. Immediately an African American on the front row told me that she was disappointed in our country. I teach science, not government and thought that I needed to turn the conversation as quickly as I could safely back to the objectives on the board, but I could not ignore her hurt and the rest of the quiet in the room. I told her that regardless of what candidate she supported that this country is run by more than one person, that very soon she would be able to vote, that she had a voice. Behind her, a student that also ha...
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