Well, anther Valentines Day is here for me to spend by myself. Now don’t go getting out the violin...I’m at peace with that. This year Valentines Day is a day for me to reflect and remember a friend. Whereas last Valentines Day I was throwing up in the “shower” in Nkozi, Uganda before spending the day waiting at the hospital for malaria treatment. Now that was a great week.
I’ve never been the kind of girl who gets spoilt on V Day. Hard as it may be to believe, I’ve never been taken out, been brought masses of flowers or chocolates or even had so much more than a text message to be exact. Except in 2009. February 14th 2009. My sister and I were living together in Darwin and when we got home there was a single red rose on the outside table. Just one rose. No note...just a rose, a long stemmed red rose. It was so beautiful.
After an hour of guessing who the rose could be from or for, we gave up and just accepted that someone was thinking about us. It didn’t even matter who. “We” got a rose! It was by far the best Valentines Day. A week later our awesome-est friend Matthew Davies was in town, there he was at the door with a big cheesy grin on his face. He said “did you get the roses I sent?” When we told him we only got one without a note he couldn’t stop laughing...apparently he spent ages out at sea with shitty reception on a sat nav phone trying to buy us a rose each with notes and paid wayyyyyy too much for them on his credit card.
It was singularly one of the loveliest things anyone has ever done for me. This year, however, Matt is no longer with us. He lives on in our minds though, for me, Valentines Day will be the day where I reflect on his life, that rose and the joy it brought. So if you care about someone, a friend, a girlfriend, wife, mother, daughter, sister, anyone I hope you show you care. Especially on Valentines Day...it’s often the things that we think of as minor and un-noteworthy that end up standing out strong in memory, long after we’ve gone.
One Love.
No comments:
Post a Comment