MODERN FAMILY
LOVE might be in the air today, but there seems to be a bit of a romance vacuum in our house.
It might be the most romantic day of the year but son junior, aged nine, has declared that he wants to lock himself in his room and ignore any cards, flowers or sloppy kisses. The Valentine disco clashes with football practice, so there is an obvious winner and it won’t be slowdancing around the dance floor to any George Michael song.
Son senior has just entered his teenage years so he is keeping his cards very close to his chest. Any questions about a special someone are met with much eye-rolling, deep sighing and a grunt.
It is not just for the boys that Cupid’s bow has completely missed the target.
Balancing work, child care and my part-time job as a taxi driver for two children means Mr O and I are doing our usual working at different ends of the day.
Instead of whispering sweet nothings, phone calls will go something like this.
Me: “It is bin day, did you remember to take the bins out?” Himself: “Oops, sorry you forgot to tell me that it has been bin day on a Tuesday for the past two years.”
Himself: “Did you remember to pick up some fruit and veg from the market because we have run out?” Me: “Oops, you should have reminded me!” You get the picture. Once again the busy juggling act of home and children gets in the way of any hint of romance.
Then, by the time he returns from work, I will probably be fast asleep on the sofa, too exhausted from yet another raucous bedtime that has involved several trips up and down the stairs to deal with ghosts hiding down the side of the bed, being too cold, then too hot, (or my particular favourite – that the youngest could feel the hairs on his arm growing).
With so much going on in our lives, we had forgotten it was Valentine’s Day.
But then on a visit to a relative in a care home at the weekend, I met a lovely couple called Nancy and John.
They are both in their 80s and the grandmother-of-eight has had to be separated from her husband of nearly 60 years because she could no longer cope at home.
Every day a bus comes and collects John so he can spend the day with his wife. They sit together smiling, have lunch and tea together, chat and laugh with the other visitors.
Despite the circumstances, their positivity is infectious.
When Nancy worried about John coming the next day because it might be too icy for him, he told her lovingly and with a smile, “If the bus comes, I’ll be on it.”
Forget all the commercialism, that is how it should be. In this age of social change and seemingly less and less time, Nancy and John are the perfect example of how we should take time to slow down and show the people you love just how much you care.