Time, energy, and money

For weeks now Eric and the kids have been taunting me. "You're going to have a wonderful Valentine's Day," they kept saying. Then they would laugh in a neener- neener-you-don't-know kind of way. 

So I was wracking my brain trying to guess.

Flowers? (which would be great - I always love flowers) "Not telling." And there I would sit wondering and stewing and making myself crazy trying to think what he could be up to as they sauntered off chuckling.

I kept casually guessing:

"A fancy dinner at some fabulous restaurant to which I'd have to wear high heels and make-up??" I asked hopefully, because that meant that I would have to SHOP and get to dress up. =D 

Jonathan was the weakest link on this one.  He leaked that Dad was taking me somewhere. Then Adam chimed in "You're going to be totally surprised and love every minute of it." 

I thought my Valentine's gift to him was pretty cool - I got tickets for him to go see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (with the assumption that he would take ME, of course, even if the concert isn't until August, but that's not important right now).

Amy said, "I think Dad's plan trumps the Tom Petty tickets."  WHAT?? How is that possible? (Steve Winwood is playing with him!)

I've heard it said that you know the things that people value most because that's what they spend their time, energy and money on.

1) TIME: He made me a cd of my favorite Aretha Franklin songs. Which meant he had to search and download and make a list and find a picture to make a cover and all that. Feeling the love.

2) ENERGY: He took me to L.A. for two days. One of the days we spent at The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens - a perfect blend of art galleries and gardens - which took us most of one day because the grounds are so expansive . DEFINITELY feeling the love.

3) MONEY: He took me to see ARETHA FRANKLIN in concert.  SHUT. UP.  She was definitely on my List of People to See (Before One of Us Dies =D) and we stayed at the beautiful Westin Bonaventure Hotel in L.A.

Added bonus: Our room had a crystal clear view of the Hollywood sign.

I can't believe he kept all this under my (very sensitive) Cuban-woman radar!  I think taking me to Hawaii was just a diversionary tactic so I wouldn't guess he was going to do anything special for Valentine's Day.

Either that, or I just married well. ;-)