50% off

It's Valentines Day Eve Day.  I keep hearing people say what a dreaded holiday it is but this reminds me of heart covered shoe boxes decorated in construction paper ( reminds me of Captain Kangaroo) and little cards stuck in the slot by everyone in my class with treats afterwards.  That was fun.
  As I got older I received gifts from my husband, the few that came to mind was an ad he put in the paper...and a heart shaped necklace, all the rest are blobbed together with flowers that are a faded memory. 


 I think it's a nice holiday, but it  shouldn't be reserved for just the young, especially with  high expectations abounding from every jewelry store ad and restaurant proving to make your night as special as their ad depicts.  Shouldn't we have a little more imagination than that?  
Reserving it for more love in the air and less hate, showing kindness to those who feel  left out and don't matter..making it more of a day, a little more special,  to those in need, rich and poor alike.  Valentines day can be so much more if we get off the commercialized band wagon and use our imagination to "share the love".  



When I think of VD I think of my parents,  and a friend,   his birthday is on that day. 
I asked my mom one time about Valentines Day and dad.  She laughed, she had a reflective look on her face so  I'm pretty sure she was remembering moments of their VD together.  I didn't ask, I just assumed.  I felt those were private if she wanted me to know she'd tell me.
   

Blue Shorts for Buster

She said,  Dad never gave her candy, on VD day, which my mother dearly loved...the sweet tooth doesn't fall far from the candy aisle......anyways..dad always went the day after to buy her  candy because it was half off.  Yes, I said half off.  :)
Feb. 15, was the day near and dear to her heart along with a box of 50% off chocolates from the local Walgreen's or Eckerds then.  That was my dad's speed...Whitman's and Russell Stover.
This was probably when they lived in Florida, I know for a fact he would go to Dietschs when they lived in Findlay,  especially for their heart shaped boxes of awesome hand dipped  chocolates..I remember seeing it in the house.  Now that I think of it I do remember receiving one and with the luxury of knowing it was mine bit into whatever I wanted leaving those I didn't like or think I didn't like  for later.   Memories.

Mom, Cory, Lauren, & Rita  8/'07
In memory of.. on this day 2/13/08

That's all I have of the story, I love it because I know it wasn't the day that mattered it was the thought that counted even at  50% off!!  

Home Brew

I was a youngster, asleep, as was the household when suddenly I woke up thinking there was a  war going on , it sounded just  like machine guns.  It happened so fast, I waited listening for more of the same but didn't hear anything else so I  went back to sleep.  In the morning we found out what the noise was  about, my dad, ye old beer maker had had a tub full of Home Brew he had bottled, explode.  Thankfully,the dozen or more bottles were in a galvanized tub in the basement covered with an old quilt . That was smart thinking, it kept the glass chards from flying all over the place.

I imagined he came up with the idea to start a new "business" because he had an old bottle cap device he acquired  from who knows where.
 I think he was the type of person, who, like a woman, who buys a pair of shoes needs to buy dress to go with it.  (That's the only analogy I could think of )
  Of course, I don't really know if that's why he did what he did, I just know he was creative and inventive and I understand from whence my own creative ideas come from.
What a story to tell  to be followed up with,  he made wine too?  He did, he was a man I've come to realize that  wasn't afraid to try a variety of things.  I believe there was usually a reason behind it or he had a nagging idea and had to run with it.


  Not only did he indulge in the processes of beer making and wine making he also tried sauerkraut.  We had   a  huge old crock in the basement full of that smelly stuff. If my pitiful memory serves me right, that experiment didn't work as expected and had to be dumped.  I am ever so grateful for that.  I liked sauerkraut and bratwurst but he had enough in that crock for the next year or so.

There is much more to the story of the Home Brew and Wine and the preacher man walking down the alley and all kinds of good stuff.  But my dad has moved on and his stories went with him, fortunately I have enough of his imagination to remember bits and pieces and to fill in what I think happened.  I'll let  you fill in your own blanks.  He had a good time creating and that's all that mattered.


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