Seventeen years ago on this special day I had my first heart attack. Please do not be alarmed, as it didn't require any medical attention, but I did seek medical attention. You'll see why in a minute.
I was at BYU and had a volleyball class on Valentine's Day. During that class a ball hit a glass trophy case hanging on the wall and shattered over my head. Because I was at a school sponsored class I had to go to the health clinic. It was an end to an absolutely horrible day. The library didn't have the books I needed for the report I needed to write and now I'm sitting in a very slow health clinic. And to top it off my scooter was clear across campus. It is now pitch black, cold, my head hurt and now I had to walk from one end of campus to the other. I decided to try my luck and called my apartment to see if one of the two girls who owned cars would come pick me up. Thankfully one of them did. I don't recall how my scooter got home, but I rode it to work the next morning.
When I walked into my apartment I headed straight for my bedroom. I just wanted the day to end. As I looked at my door there were construction paper hearts taped all over. How sweet, one of the guys I was dating put hearts on my door (or were they for my roommate?). I opened my door and above my bed were tons of the same hearts hanging from the ceiling. Somehow I figured out that Steve had just asked me out for dinner the next night.
I do remember that date, but this isn't a story about that date, but a tradition my husband started--Heart Attacks!
The next Valentine's Day we were married but so poor we couldn't spend the money for construction paper so we just did a notebook paper heart to each other. The following Valentine's Day we had a bit more money. Steve woke up that morning to a bunch of construction paper hearts attached to our bedroom door. I couldn't hang them over the bed during the night because he was in the bed and I'm sure he would have woken up when I stepped on him. Well, it is now a tradition, every Valentine's Day morning the bedroom doors in our house are covered in construction paper hearts.
Last night, we had heart attacks at our home. The kids won't let me forget about this tradition, they love it so much. We have now added a Mylar balloon and a treat. Sometimes it is a deck of cards, bag of candy, lip gloss or whatever catches my fancy while shopping.
This morning something very interesting happened. About 5:00 am my daughter was knocking at our bedroom door and telling us she was scared. I wasn't sleeping very well, so I got up. She told me there were bad guys in the hall. I turned the lights on and she saw four balloons moving in the air. In the darkened hall way the four balloons where just the right height to be "four bad guys." When she realized what she saw, she got a HUGE smile on her face and quickly got back in bed so Valentine's Day would come faster. I gave her a hug and kiss while I tucked her back into bed. She was so excited to have her "heart attack." As I closed the door she said, "I can't wait to wake up to be loved."
Hope I have a ton more "heart attacks!"
Doreen