My title is from a love poem my mom wrote my father in a diorama she made him.

As I’ve told you, Valentine’s Day is special to my family. It’s special to the four of us now, but that comes over from my childhood love of the holiday. I promised you one last Valentine’s Day story and this one is a doozy. I have published it on my blog in the past, probably more than once, but it needs a refresher. Also, I have a photo of the diorama she made him.

We were able to fix the heart, but I took this photo last year before that:

And now it’s story time, followed by craft time, because apparently I need to be a preschool teacher:

The reason I love Valentine’s Day is truly an epic, movie-esque, not-quite-happy, really-downright-sad reason, but boy, did it propel a series of not sad Valentine’s Days. I don’t need the works. I don’t need a single thing. I can tell you about valentines in school – getting three carnation “Love-Grams” sent to my desk in high school (from my sister and two gay friends but that’s neither here nor there). I can tell you about my first college boyfriend and his stuffed bear and three pound bag of M&Ms that I couldn’t even look at, because I had the honest-to-goodness FLU. There are many stories to tell.

It starts with this one.

My father had passed away in July. Before he had died suddenly, he had been put on a waitlist for Cabbage Patch Dolls – specifically the ones called “Preemies.” They don’t make them like that anymore! The Valentine’s Day after he died, I was four and Lindsay was six. This was several months later, and my mom got the call from Child World ON VALENTINE’S DAY (or maybe the day before) that the two Cabbage Patch dolls he had ordered were ready for her to pick up, after all this time.

My mom was the room mother for Lindsay’s classroom and had organized a Valentine’s Day game, but instead Lindsay got really sick and missed the party. We were home later on Valentine’s Day and Lindsay was napping – burning up with a high fever. She woke up and my mom gave us valentine gifts. I remember fuzzy red monkeys that had arms you could clip on things. We got homemade valentines and then the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. Lindsay could read then, and my mom put cards on the boxes that said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, from your daddy in heaven.” It certainly felt cosmic then. It still does.

Sometimes I can open my heart a little bit, and then a bit more, and get back there again.

I’m a mom now and while my kids know I make a huge deal out of Valentine’s Day, they don’t know why..quite yet.

Cupid’s Arrow Valentine Decor

Materials:

Long twigs from tree branches
Feathers
Ribbon of your choosing
Cardstock paper
Hot glue gun
Clear jar or vase
Scissors
Gold spray paint

Instructions:

1 – Start by spray painting your long twigs outside in a well ventilated area. Leave the twigs to dry completely before bringing inside.

2 – Cut out small triangles from cardstock in the color of your choosing. We used gold glitter cardstock to make our triangles. These will be the tips of your arrows, so you may need to adjust the size of the triangles according to the size of your twigs.

3 – Fold each triangle in half.

4 – Glue one folded triangle to the bottom of one of your painted twigs, and then glue the matching triangle onto the other side of the bottom of your twig. This will form the point of your Cupid’s arrow.

5 – Trim down a feather to a length that you like according to the size of your twig. You will put this feather at the top of your arrow.

6 – Gently hot glue the feather in place at the top of your twig and in line with the point of your arrow.

7 – Wrap a ribbon of your choosing around the bottom of the feather to cover it completely. Secure the ribbon in the back of the arrow with hot glue.

8 – Display your finished arrows in a clear jar or vase.

Have a happy one!