My Valentine

I found my card and gift in the toaster this year. Last year they were in my walking shoes. The year before under my pillow. This surprise gift giving just delights me. Beula the ever vigilant is very hard to surprise. Mark has given me gifts in this fashion from the first. How did he know I would relish this style of gifting? He didn't. It's just him.

He cracks me up. This morning at breakfast while watching me struggle with a bowl of millet he said, "Ah yes, the Kay Sheppard food plan, no more flavor than a nice glass of hard water." "Hard" water. It was the addition of that one word that sent me into spasms of hysteria. We have a cookoo clock. I love this family heirloom. Mark hates it. Say it goes, "snick, snick, snick" and is slicing off moments of his life with each snick. The clock runs fast. This morning it cookooed five minutes early before the actual 8AM time. Mark stopped dead in this tracks, pointed at the innocent bird, and said in his sonorous Old Testament voice, "Wicked bird, my life is in the hands of God." I fell down laughing. My life up to the near past present has not been funny. How did Mark know I loved the juxtaposition of words to create humor? He didn't. It's just him.

Our first date was in the midst of a blizzard. I almost cancelled. I thought Mark was cute and smart but way to normal for me. As a result of abuse as a kid I had come to believe only angst, obsession filled relationships could contain "real" love. Straight as an arrow Mark was a tad bit boring I felt and the relationship would go no where. I went anyway. We ate and it snowed and snowed. As a liberated women I took my own car. No need for him to come clear out in the country to get me I said. Comes dinner's end. I insist on paying. He looked like I had pole-axed him but gave in with good grace. I went to pay and then to make a stop in the ladies' room. He agreed to wait. I eventually emerged to find...no Mark. Not in the lobby, not in the dining room, not anywhere. Made me mad. Idiot SOB has left me I thought. Right. I'm going home. I couldn't find my car keys. I checked purse, pockets, under the table, under napkins and in the bathroom. Great I thought, it's snowing, date has left in a huff and now I can't find my keys. Decided to check outside to see if I had dropped them beside the car. I opened the door and the frigid wind almost blew me over. And there was Mark. He took my arm and walked me through the drifts. Where the hell have you been I wanted to holler but the snow was too much. We got to my car...which was running. He'd also scraped off all the ice and snow! I was dumbfounded. No one and I mean no one had ever done anything like that for me before. I had been taking care of myself since I was small. He helped me into the warm car and yelled good night. I was still so thunderstruck I don't think I even thanked him. Gathering together what was left of my wits I pulled out of the parking lot and started the long, blind drive home. I had navigated slowly through town and out into the darkness before I noticed the car behind me. It was following fairly close. "Tailgater," I muttered but was secretly relieved not to be out in the blizzard alone. We, the tailgater and I, crept through the opaque night toward my house. I was glad for the extra lights of the tailgater but did not give him/her much other thought until he/she/it turned in behind me into my driveway. Then I saw the driver. I exploded, "D%^m f-ing man. One d&*m date and you assume I am going to screw you. What balls. I'll give you a piece alright, of my mind." I wrenched the door open and rocketed out of the car. Only to to see Mark pulling out of the driveway to drive the five miles back to town in a blizzard. I stood there in the snow waving and crying. How did he know above all else I needed someone to cherish me? He didn't. It's just him.

Some where I read marriages are made in Heaven. I believe it. I would never have chosen Mark without Divine intervention. How did I know Mark would be the half to make my life whole? I didn't. It was just Him. Amen

Take care of yourself.

Love Bea.