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.
Tonight I went running with a friend ten years my junior. I asked her how far she was running and when she said only about 1.5 or 2 miles, I teased her that I could go at least twice that far. And to just let me know when she needed to stop. I have been running pretty regularly for the last few weeks. It isn’t long but keep increasing my time and distance. I’ve stopped getting blisters. I don’t suck wind after five minutes anymore and I was feeling pretty good about myself. Thinking I might even be able to out run this girl who was so much younger and obviously in more shape than me. As we started to jog I told her that I run pretty slow. Like my husband used to walk beside me while I ran, slow. And she slowed her gait a little bit for me but it was still faster than I usually go. I was a little embarrassed and was not going to ask her to slow down again. So I just ran at her pace. I stayed close. And was fading fast. A little over a mile in I was ready to quit. Again, pride, which isn...
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