This year we made a seismic holiday change. As a couple we decided that on Valentines Day, you know the day Hallmark, Godiva and 1-800-Flowers say you're supposed to spend the equivalent of a mortgage payment on gifts to prove your loved ones truly are loved, we were doing something different. We forwent the triviality and tried something a little more significant.
D's gift to me was a polartec jacket, a heavy winter coat and a pair of tennis shoes. But these things aren't in my closet. Instead Mohammed, a new friend from Khartoum, is wearing them. Winter in Carolina is a lot colder than winter in Sudan, especially without winter clothing. So I didn't get that box of Ferrero Rocher or some new fishing lures but Mohammed isn't cold anymore. Happy Valentines Day.
My gift to D came a couple days later. Yosef landed in Greensboro with literally the clothes on his back and a passport. When I took him to the thrift store yesterday he was giddy. "I don't know where to start! I'm too excited." It was beautiful watching him go from rack to rack, touching garment after garment, trying on this and that. 30 minutes and just a few bucks later, he had a huge bag clothes and an even bigger smile. Happy Valentines Day.
Maybe February really is the Month of Love ...
Addendum: Just so you know, I'm not a total loser husband, I did take D out on a lunch date on Saturday. Afterward we went to the Dollar Tree and bought more stuff for refugees. It really is amazing how far you can stretch $25 when everything in the store is a dollar.
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