You cannot count on the mail system during deployment. It isn’t reliable.
During my husband’s last deployment, I could mail a package big enough to store a Neopolitan Mastiff and nine puppies and it would arrive in three days.
But the pink envelope that held my homemade military Valentine? That took four months to appear on the ship. Just in time for Easter!
So when my husband reported that the mail had arrived on the ship February 13 and there was nothing for him, I knew my military Valentine plan was sunk.
I had to think up something for my sailor (that was full of all the love in my heart and would make him weep with remembered joy of our union) and I had to think it up quickly.
But what?
You can’t exactly call Domino’s and ask them to deliver a heart-shaped pizza to the Mediterranean Sea.
Dominos. That was the ticket. Because a Domino’s pizza sign always makes me think of my husband. He could live on the stuff.
In fact, I was always telling Brad that being apart was so hard for me because everything around me reminded me of him. This was my chance to show him this was true.
So on Valentine’s Day, I took pictures of all the things I saw that made me think of Brad. I took pictures of sweet things and funny things and weird things and emailed each one individually.
I took a picture of our wedding picture from my bed because it is the first thing I see when I wake up.
I took a picture of the coffee pot because coffee tastes better when he makes it.
I took a picture of our sleeping son because the two of them have exactly the same long eyelashes.
I took a picture of me in my bubble bath because Brad has a sixth sense about when to catch me in my birthday suit.
I took a picture of the stop sign near our house because my guy is Mr. Safety and is always on me about my rolling stops.
I took a picture of a clock because I count the hours. Sherlock on TV. His forlorn car in the driveway. The Dominos pizza we had for dinner in his honor.
I sent 26 items because we had been married 26 years with a little clue about why I picked that item. My husband loved it. He said he kept checking his email all day just to see what I had thought up.
The best part of it was that focusing on my Valentine project helped me skipped that big scoop of loneliness I usually eat when I spend a holiday without him. Instead, this time it was easy to remember why I love my guy. Why the two of us are together. Why my Valentine is well worth waiting for. I hope it does the same for you.
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