What's Your Valentine's Day Theme Song?

It is that time.  Romance is brewing in the air thanks to the Hallmark Company.  Heart-shaped boxes full of mystery chocolate covered candy with stuffed teddy bears are all sitting on tables next to the vases of a dozens of red roses. The finer restaurants are packed and the poor saps that weren't smart enough to make an early reservation are sitting on the sidelines with their patient dates waiting for a gap in the crowd.  Yes, this is Valentine's Day, a marketing dream for the romance business.

Sure, I sound cynical.  That is the "cool" thing to do, isn't it?  However, we can take those lemon, commercial concepts and magically make the sweet tasting nectar known as red wine out of it.  You thought I was going to say lemonade, didn't you?  Who has lemonade on Valentine's Day?

If you get passed the profits, you can capitalize on the day, yourself, and allow it to be what retailers want you to see - a celebration of love.  And with great love celebrations, come great theme songs.  What is the theme song of your love life?

I am sure there are a lot of great stories out there.  Love lives with themes such as "Endless Love" or "Through the Years," and other great prom theme type songs.  Oh, how I would have loved to have claimed, "She Believes in Me" as my love theme.  Sadly, no.

It was almost a great and cheesy song for me, yessiree!  The most magical night that could have been a great forever story should have crescendoed at my college fraternity formal dance.   I worked hard to get the girl of my dreams to be my sweetheart.  It wasn't easy.  It came with a lot of bumps and bruises.  However, the elements miraculously came together and she announced that she would be honored to accompany me to my Rose Formal Dance
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We talked a lot between the invitation and the dance.  I told her how I felt about her and that the look in her eyes when she looked at me, sometimes, revealed a promise of wonderful story for us.  I told her that it reminded me of the song, "Almost Paradise."  She gave me a nervous smile and I changed the subject.  A few weeks later, we were at the dance and we were having a great time.  Then, about halfway through the night, the DJ announced, "This song is for Jeff."  And so it was that "Almost Paradise" filled the room and with it almost all my fraternity brothers and their dates swayed to "our theme."   I bent over and said, "How about that!  This song is special to another Jeff in my fraternity."  She said, "It is you, silly, I had it played for you."  I was silly.  I was silly to think "Almost Paradise" was going to be my love theme for my life.

It's been years, and other loves have come and gone, even a wife - not without great effort from me to keep the embers of love to still warm my life.  So, it came to me this week, the song I would really need to claim as the theme song for my love life.  "Doing the Best that I Can," by Elvis Presley. The lyrics are uncannily a perfect fit.  If you aren't familiar with them, and you have any interest in this post, give it a listen.  You simply can't get the message from the title.

So, what's your theme song?

Mom, Just Mom . . .

Yesterday was my mom's 80th birthday. I made her a cake.

First I got some fried chicken and made up some mashed potatoes.  Mom loves drum sticks.  As she got older, the legs were something she found was suited just for her.  She could hold on to them, there wasn't a lot of work involved and no unnecessary bones to dodge.  That and some good mashed potatoes made up the ideal meal for Mom - as long as she had a dessert!

That is where the cake comes in. It was chocolate fudge with milk chocolate icing. In the cake batter, I added some peanut butter.  That was my hack because my mom always loved the chocolate peanut butter shakes at Sonic. I also added a packet of Dream Whip to the batter because I know how important a moist cake is.

When everything was ready, I sat down in my empty house.  I ate two chicken legs, a little mashed potatoes, and for dessert I had peanut butter-chocolate fudge cake custom made for the woman I owe everything I have sweet in my life.  I love you, Mom.

 

The following message I have is widely considered a platitude.  People tend to smile thoughtfully and nod their head.  Then, most go on their merry way without it.  But let me urge you to take it with you and hold onto it tightly.  Let it become apart of your values and who you are:

LOVE AND CHERISH YOUR MOM WHILE SHE IS HERE OR SOME DAY YOU WILL WISH YOU HAD.

Test of Faith

What a tough year! I don't want to get into a lot of details about it, but the main thing is my mother's health.  She is in a specialty hospital trying to be weaned off the ventilator.

One thing about all these trials is that it really tests one's faith.  We human beings are faced with our limits all the time.  We research, make informed decisions and then wait.  Nothing is guaranteed.  Those of us that believe in God find ourselves begging the only being that can actually make the healing stick. Somehow it shouldn't be that way.  I mean, a loving God would surely want his children to be healthy and thrive and have fulfilling lives without being broken-hearted by someone taken too soon. Right?

We don't know.  We are just puny humans with limited understanding. God gives us only the promise of eternal life. Somehow, that is not enough.  Yet, it has to be.  We must surrender it all to Him.  When it comes down to it, what choice do we have?