Memory Lane Friday - Valentine's Day

This week's Memory Lane Friday topic is "Valentine's Day."

Okay, I know I haven't been posting much lately. But I do have a good excuse. For those of you new to my blog, I started grad school mid-January. Since I'm in two literature classes, that means I spend nearly all my free time reading, reading, writing. . . oh, and then reading some more.

Anyway, I typically have my Memory Lane Friday post written by Thursday at the latest, and then I just schedule it to automatically post at 6 AM (CST) on Friday morning. Well, I had both a test and a paper this week, so that didn't happen.

But here I am now, ready to talk a little about a cute Valentine's Day surprise I got one year.

Back when Andrew and I were both still on Active Duty in the Air Force, we spent a year at an assignment in southern New Mexico. It was when we were in New Mexico that Andrew surprised me with a Valentine's gift at my office.

Anyway, this was Valentine's 2007. That year, February 14th occurred on a weekday. Needless to say, we went about our day, just as we did any other weekday.

My days, at that point, started at about 4:15 AM. With having to get baby Livie to the on-base child development center, getting to my squadron's PT (physical training, a.k.a. the squadron's workout), and then getting to work by 7:30 AM, my mornings were packed; generally, I didn't think about anything other than "What time is it, and what do I have to do next?" Valentine's Day was the last thing I would've been thinking about.

Well, after making it through the busiest time of my day (early morning), I was in my office doing work. I think that on that day, I may have had some meetings, some stuff I needed to accomplish in the warehouse, or perhaps simply a task or two to do somewhere other than at my desk.

At some point, early in the afternoon, an NCO (non-commissioned officer) knocked on my door. When I told her, "Come on in," she came in with a bucket of carnations, and a little box.

The little box contained a little ceramic jar with a heart on it; inside were a bunch of Hershey's Kisses - the silver wrappers with the red stripes, and also the ones with red foil wrappers (instead of the traditional aluminum foil). And sitting on top of the jar, was a little pink and white stuffed bear, with a heart on its tummy. And there was a note from Andrew saying, "I love you." Plus, I got a red carnation.

It was all too cute.

Apparently, there was an organization on base (perhaps the Company Grade Officers' Association or the Air Force Sergeants' Association, or even The First Sergeants' Association, I'm not sure which) that had been selling these little Valentine treats as a fundraiser for their group. I vaguely remember seeing fliers, or maybe hearing an announcement about it. But having a small child (Livie was almost 1 at the time), working full time, and having my days start so early . . . well, you can see why I hadn't really paid attention to those ads, right?

So I was really surprised that Andrew had remembered. It was a very sweet little gift. I ended up keeping the little bear on my desk for the rest of the time we were there. And that little jar? Once I'd consumed all the Kisses, I ended up keeping it filled with those delish caramel Kisses. Let's just say that those caramel Kisses made my desk popular.

Memory Lane Friday is hosted by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to read her post for this week, along with other participants' posts.

Please come back next week when we have another "No Theme" week!