Valentine's Day Challenge

I always loved Valentine's Day. I loved it in grade school when the teachers would bring out the red construction paper, white doilies, glitter and paste making the classroom project of the day to cut out the heart shaped cards we would decorate and take home to our parents with childish pride. As I got older I loved the romance of the holiday and the anticipation of wondering whether or not I might get flowers or candy from the boy I was dating. Or maybe it would be a romantic dinner or drive. But 1981 ruined Valentine's Day forever when I got a call from the local police to come to the hospital morgue to identify my boyfriend who had been in a car accident on a snowy February day.

Distraught as I was, my mother knew I shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car so she drove me to the next county where he had been taken. As we drove, I hoped perhaps it was a case of mistaken identify. Maybe his wallet had been stolen and that was the person who was dead. As the police led me down the hall with the nurse my one thought was that I hoped there wouldn't be a sheet over his head to be pulled back for identification like I'd seen in so many movies. As I moved to the stark white hospital bed, the sheet was there and just like in the movies and as I'd suspected, it was pulled back for me. There was my Valentine. It wasn't a huge mistake after all. I reached out to smooth his hair and as I did my fingers moved over his cheek. I couldn't assimilate this iciness in my mind. His skin should be warm. His hair felt like normal hair but what was this coldness under it? Death.

I hope no one this year has to deal with this kind of pain and desolation. When a loved one dies during a holiday, it changes that day forever. Even though you may get over the initial heartache, it will never again be the carefree, joyful holiday it once was. So, I beg of all lovers out there, young and old alike, to be especially careful when you are traveling the still icy or wet roads and highways. Get to your valentine sweetheart safely. It is far better to be late and perhaps yelled at for a moment than to die and be mourned forever.