Herzing Luv: Happy Valentine's Day (A Week Late)!

My Sweetest Valentine Ever. Thanks, Dan.

"Hello young lovers wherever you are,

Hello not-so-young lovers with hearts fixed on the prize of growing
older together, one day at a time, come what may,

Hello to those flying solo, learning to love just the feel of being
human,

Hello to those head over heels in a tangle of a wrecked bed, blurring
ego boundaries with an eager protagonist, drunk on it,

Hello to those who could never live with another human being and are
okay with that knowledge (Fran Lebowitz),

Hello to those married with young children, running their domestic
marathon,

Hello to those in love with the sky only, the very breathable air,
restlessly content with this earthly mix of sometimes joy, sometimes
longing, sometimes loneliness, sometimes surprising laughter,

Hello to those in love with the whole human predicament,

Hello to the broke, the well-heeled, the lucky, the lost, the quiet,
the gifted, the empty-handed, the adopted, the beginners, the almost
finished, the starting over, the music makers, and those with the gift
of hearing and receiving the music,

Hello.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day to you all."

-Linford Detweiler, (Over the Rhine) ...part of a lovely email I and other readers received from him last Tuesday.

...I am definitely part of the young married couple with a child "running the domestic marathon," and I wish there was a sweeter way of phrasing it but it is actually quite accurate! ;) We had ourselves a nice little V-day, though, amidst the laundry loading and folding, dinner preparation and dishes, diaper changes, picking up toys, and wiping away baby boogers. ;)We had little gifts and cards for one another, a lovely dinner with a fine brew, the Westminster Dog Show to watch on TV, and the company of GiGi(*!), (Pax and Nexus' great grandma, who stayed with us for three days to watch Raine while our baby-sitter's daughter was sick.) Here are some photos from our evening...And many more here, on Flickr. I also had fun sending out valentines from Raine to friends and family (Well, I have found time to get half of them sent so far...LOL!) I helped Raine hold a pen to scribble on them. Equal time spent in both the left and right hands. ;)