Happy Valentine's Day!

Looking Back a Few Years Ago...

It’s the middle of February (2011), and it’s been cold and rainy far too long! We are in our music room–keeping warm beside the fireplace–sitting in our most comfortable chairs, wrapped in our knitted, off white, cozy blankets. It’s still winter and so we have books to read, movies to watch, games to play and journeys to plan. But...Peter is fast asleep, and so...

I dream of...

Flowers growing in my garden, window boxes, beds and borders--Sunshine on their lovely faces, always makes me smile...

I dream of...

Flowers singing love songs, dressed in gorgeous velvet gowns in hues of pinks and yellows, blues and purples, reds and whites--Gentle brush strokes orchestrated, add a touch of blush...

                                                      

I dream of...

Flowers dancing in the moonlight, casting shadows of delight, swaying to the sound of music as their symphony unfolds. And in our day to day activity--rhythm curves and shapes our lives...    

I dream of...

Flowers joining hands in friendship, and...

wishing you a 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Take good care...

Hilda

And...Looking Back Some More

This morning (2009), I went down to our crawl space, and found the Valentine box that Peter gave me forty-two years ago. I took it out of the plastic bag and automatically blew off the dust. It wasn’t really dusty, but perhaps the plastic flowers made it look a little dusty and old. The chocolate bonbons are long gone and the lovely box now holds the love letters that Peter wrote to me the summer of 1967.

I had been attending grade 10 at the MEI (Mennonite Educational Institute) that year, and room and boarded in Clearbrook (now Abbotsford), at the home of Lesley and Lydia Friesen on Clearbrook Rd. They were a  caring family, welcomed me into their home, and to top it off, Lydia was a fantastic cook. Finally I didn’t have someone (my stepfather) checking to see how much I was eating, and soon I began to gain a few of the much needed pounds. You see, I was ninety-five pounds when I got married, so I guess I must have been less than that when I moved in at the Friesen's. When my parents found out that I had a room in the basement, they arranged for me to stay at the Dick’s home, across from the school--So much for the good cooking! My parents may have heard that a thief had found his way in through my window while I was away one weekend, at my Uncle Peter Spenst’s place, in Chilliwack.

At the end of the school year, I took the Greyhound bus home to Wembley, Alberta, where my parents were grain farming. That summer, Peter...I should really say Pete, since that is how each letter that I received was signed, and that is how he is still called by some siblings and old friends. For some reason I never really liked to call him that, so after we got married, July 12, 1969, and had moved to CMBC (Canadian Mennonite Bible Collage) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, now CMU (Canadian Mennonite University), I started to call him Peter--somehow it suited him better. Anyways...that summer we exchanged letters. 

I wonder what happened to the letters that I wrote him...? I found them!

The lovely box had been full of delicious looking chocolate bonbons on that Valentine's Day long ago, but unfortunately...or fortunately, I couldn’t eat chocolate, and so, the next day, I gave the filled box to my mother, who returned the empty box a week or so later and thanked me for the 5 unwanted pounds that she had gained! Too funny...

But, today is Feb. 14, 2014, and I have an eye scan and an one hour of chemo. Not much of a Valentine's Day, but that is how it has to go.

Once more,

"Happy Valentine's Day!" 

I hope you have a good one.

Love,

Hilda