It was Valentines Day 1986 when Haley made his arrival into the world. From that day forward Valentines Day hasn't been important to me in a romantic sense, it has been much more than that, it's Haleys birthday and that's all that mattered. I have spent today, reminiscing.
When Haley was 5 (we were living in Texas) I decided to take him on a plane for his birthday. It was just going to be a day trip and being way before the days of the internet, I had to consult a travel agent to buy the ticket. It was the travel agent who actually suggested that we fly to Houston because they had a fancy revolving rooftop restaurant and we thought that would be fun, especially on Valentines day.
All I told Haley was that we were going to the airport to watch the planes and he was satisfied with that. When it became time to board I told him that the woman at the counter was letting us go on the plane just to see it. He was very excited! We then sat in seats and pretended we were going somewhere and when the plane started to move Haley was both freaked out and amazed. That's when I told him "Surprise, we are going on a plane ride for your birthday!" He held on for dear life until we were airborne and he realized it was quite an adventure!
The flight to Houston was only about 45 minutes long and we spent the next couple of hours riding around in circles on an underground tram that connected one terminal to another, spending birthday money at the airport gift shops, watching planes come and go, and then we went to eat at the fancy revolving restaurant.... which turned out to be... closed. It had been booked for the day for a special Valentine celebration and there was no one there but a couple of employees, who fortunately were touched by us being there and decided we could stay.
The restaurant was all decorated for Valentines Day, and it was very elegant. We had the whole place to ourselves and the staff specially made hamburgers for us, served us fancy soft drinks in champagne glasses and put on a regal show for this mother and her 5 year old Valentine. It was wonderful- it had to have been for it was 20 years ago and I still remember every detail.
I had purposely booked our flight home to be at dusk so Haley could have the full experience of seeing the lights of San Antonio when we landed. Once on the ground and a hour drive to home it was pretty late but Haley could not wait to see his Grammie and Grampa and tell them about his day! We stopped at their house and Haley ran in chattering so fast that he didn't make sense and showing them all the things he had bought at the airport, and about our dinner in the revolving rooftop restaurant.
We have had many wonderful Valentine Days since then. In grade school he always had a birthday party whether it was really a birthday party or not- he got cards and treats and I sent more to school for Valentines Day than I would have if it wasn't Haleys birthday. The picture attached was the year he turned 10, the year of his 16th birthday was the first time he met Jenny, this year is his first as a daddy- a long time ago he wrote me a note "will you be my Valentine?" and I wrote on it "always". Today he stopped at my house to give me a red rose and a card.
Needless to say I have never regretted sharing Valentines Day with Haleys birthday- maybe I don't have the traditional Valentine- but what I do have is something soooo much better. :)
Like!
ReplyDelete