HAPPY VALENTINES' DAY!

VALENTINE’S DAY
This is Saturday, February 14, 2009. HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! I had a very nice day today. It was one of the nicest of this special day, and I have experienced many great Valentine days during my 90 years.
First of all, my three daughters checked in with their Valentine greetings. I always enjoy Mary’s, Joan’s and Sue’s visits. We see them more often now, that we are all living in Fairfield.
This morning, the phone rang, and I debated whether to answer it, or let the call go through to Voice Mail. (We get a lot of “junk” phone calls - most of the messages are recordings.) I decided to answer - I’m glad that I did. It was Dody - my high school sweetheart - calling, to wish me a Happy Valentines Day and say “I love you.” I first heard her speak those tender words 75 years ago. They still perked up my congestive heart. I didn’t hear the words of a mature- 89 year old woman, but the bubbly- giggly words of a 15 year old! Music for my soul.
Dody and I went steady for her last three years of high school, and my last two years of high school and first year of college. “Going steady” may seem strange, and quaint, today, but then we were all comfortable with the custom. When I wasn’t playing in the high school band, playing football or running track, I would walk her home from school. One of my hands held hers (I must have been afraid of her getting away!), and carrying our books with my other hand. When I was with her I had goose bumps. I am sure that most people who are in love experience this same emotion! I looked forward to double, and triple dating, (no seat belts back then), with my friends, especially, to the Friday night dances in the Berea High School gym.
In the summer of 1937, (during the Great Depression), the New York Central Railroad was consolidating their offices. My Dad was transferred from Cleveland to Detroit, and we moved from Berea to Ypsilanti. This really put a crimp on Dody’s and my romance. It tested the old adage - “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” ---(of someone else!) While I visited her a few times in Berea, and she reciprocated by coming to Ypsilanti once, the distance between us became too big an obstacle. Too, World War II came along and scrambled the lives of so many of us - distant military transfers and meeting new people. The generation before ours was born and died in the same town - never venturing far a field. Dody went on to Baldwin Wallace College, in Berea, where she met her future husband. I ended up in Tulare for primary flight training. This is where I met Marie - at Rankin Field, where she was working. That was 65 years ago!
This evening, Quail Creek put on a very nice Valentine Dinner. Joan was our guest and we had a very nice time. When we got to our table, there was a unique favor on the plate - huge strawberries that had been dipped in dark chocolate! They were packed in a clear plastic container, tied with a red ribbon, with the words “Love” printed along it. I was impressed. With the price of the cacao bean going out of sight, this was a valuable gift. To top it off, they served a delicious lobster dinner. What a way to go! A great harpist played during dinner. Before leaving, I stopped by and commented what a talented musician she was. I told her that I enjoyed her playing “Embraceable You”. I explained that it was my wife’s and my special song for 65 years. She told me that a friend of hers did the arranging of it.
In all fairness, I must say that the festive spirit was dampened when I watched Marie during dinner. She wasn’t in the moment. Her previously sharp brain has betrayed her. It is not functioning properly. Consequently, she either doesn’t always respond, or her brain gives improper signals. She knows that something is wrong, but doesn’t comprehend. She doesn’t complain and is her former -sweet self. When she asks me to help her, and tells me that she loves me, it tears me apart. Alzheimer -dementia is a terrible curse - not only for the person experiencing it, but also for the family that is trying to cope, and understand it. We hear more about depression now, than we used to a generation ago, because of better diagnosis and reporting, and a larger population exposed to the disease, Too, we are all living longer! Previous generations usually died of something else, even though an autopsy at death would probably show early warnings of the dementia. Too, with our increased longevity, we are experiencing other chronic health problems. Other generations usually didn’t experience these ailments because they died first.
I was all wound up and couldn’t go to sleep. I got up, and so it wasn‘t a total loss, I put a CD of Frank Sinatra on the machine. Wouldn’t you know, he was singing “My Funny Valentine”.
RCL 2/14/09.