Celebrate Your Special Valentine 🌹💘

We celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th. I always had a special Valentine: my mom. Mom was born on Valentine’s Day, and was named after it, Vallee. 

My parents were young—just 20 when they had me as their first born. While growing up, I always had the youngest parents compared to my friends.

My mom was beautiful and gregarious. At times she was compared to the famous actress, Elizabeth Taylor. Later in life I learned that most of the other boys in my high school class had a crush on her at one time or another.

Unfortunately, my parents divorced. Mom remarried for about 14 more years, and then divorced again. Somewhere along the way, I became the rock on which my mom depended. Later in life, though I lived many miles away, we talked almost every day. 

My mom loved red roses. Each Valentine’s Day, I would send her a dozen red roses from the same florist in Ft. Worth, Texas. I always composed a card to my mom, sharing how special she was to me. I had to dictate over the phone to the florist (which was kind of awkward) but it had to be done. In the event I forgot to order flowers, the florist, Mrs. Bradley, would call to remind me. On the day the flowers were delivered, Mom would call exclaiming to me how they were the best arrangement she had ever seen (and I have no doubt Mrs. Bradley always wanted to make the arrangement special).

Mom was my biggest cheerleader. She was proud of me and of what I had done with my life. She was proud of my children and my wife. She was what we all hope for and envision in a mother that loves fiercely, and who can overlook our many, many flaws.

Mom left me and the rest of the world way too early, at the age of 67. She died on February 16th, just two days after her birthday.

This February 14th we would be celebrating mom’s 91st birthday. It is hard to believe; I still see her as that beautiful woman who loved me so deeply, and I her. 

After mom died, I went to her home in Ft. Worth. There on the counter sat the dozen red roses I had gotten her and my card. It made me so happy that when we had talked on her birthday, we exchanged our feelings of love for each other.

This year, I will celebrate my mom’s memory on February 14th. 

The flowers were just a token, but it meant the world to my mom that I remembered her each year.

Today I hope we are all able to take a moment to recognize that special Valentine or Valentines in our lives. You never know if there will be another chance.