We’re not big Valentine’s Day celebrators around here, maybe because so many of our February fourteenths over the years have found at least one of us sick, as if on cue. But we always manage homemade cards for me, chocolates for Troy and small gifts for Huck. This year’s was especially busy thanks to Ash Wednesday, and by the time we were all back home in our pajamas and matching forehead crosses, Huck had us working on his radio show class project. Around the two hour mark his school laptop froze and everything was lost, including all of my Foley work, though I hate to make this about me. I hugged our sobbing, delirious child and shot Troy a look that reminded him whose idea it was to have a baby. We finally convinced Huck it was not the end of the world, there’s always tomorrow, his teacher is not a monster and will understand. He went to bed and we ended the day venting about junior high, group projects, homework and hormones. At some point I cleaned my dirty forehead with a washcloth and felt we may have entered a whole new low in the Valentine’s Day department.

Cue the ear infection!

A few weeks ago Huck was asked to attend a Sadie Hawkins dance by his very good friend Cassidy who goes to a different school. His lack of interest in dances and romance was canceled out by their years of friendship, and so he agreed to go. Together he and I spent Saturday afternoon shopping for “semi-formal” clothing, texting Troy dressing room photos for his approval. Once we got home I sat back and observed the Troy-led tutorials on tie-tying and hat-wearing, hoping I could get through the evening without posting a picture on social media with the cutline: OMG I’M DYING OVER THIS OUTFIT! We three joined Cassidy and her parents for a delicious pre-dance dinner at their house, joked about Huck putting some pita bread in his jacket pocket for later, and then wished them all luck as we went off into the night to reclaim our failed Valentine’s day. They lasted 45 minutes at the “awful, loud” dance, and then went back to her place for board games in their fancy outfits while Troy and I were across town watching a movie in our pajamas.

Sometimes that’s all you need.