Seven Years

Tonight Chance and I went out together (ALONE) on a date for Valentine's Day. It has been seven years since our last Valentine's "date". Over the last several years there has always been a reason to simply do something with the family:

1. We didn't have a babysitter

2. We couldn't afford a babysitter

3. February 14th fell on a weird day of the week to get a babysitter

4. We had a tiny infant and weren't comfortable with a teenage babysitter

Yes, for six years we have laboured through our Feburary 14ths and now on the 7th - we rest. This year, our children are older, we have a babysitter and February 14th fell on a Saturday. We had dinner and saw a movie. (Somewhere in the middle Chance coerced me into Best Buy for a bit, but that's OK.) We still technically can't "afford" to do much, but we don't really need much.

I will always think of Tyler on Valentine's Day. Seven years ago yesterday, Chance brought Tyler home forever. Ty was very sick - double ear infections and a scorching fever - and he wouldn't let us put him down for three days. My mom and Stuart came to meet their new grandson and help calm us down from our freaked out "instant parents" state of mind. I don't remember much about how we spent that Valentine's Day except that we ordered Chinese take-out from Snappy Dragon and held Tyler. I wish I had a picture from that night. It's possible Stuart took some. I just remember we were poor, we were terrified and we were filled with joy.

[This is Tyler about 5 months later.]

PS - I miss Snappy Dragon. A LOT.

"At the end of every seven years, thou shalt make a release."
~ Deuteronomy 15:1

“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;-- it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”
~Jane Austen, Sense & Sensibility