Dear Readers,
Welcome to
our Pen Dames Contest: It’s simple. Leave a comment on this blog and be in the
running for 5 books by 5 amazing authors. One winner-5 books plus one audiobook
from me: Mercy of the Moon and Heartbeat of the Moon. You can
leave a comment on our Facebook posts and be eligible for five books from five
amazing authors. Hours of enjoyment, folks. Here’s the topic: share a memory
from a past Valentine’s Day. It can be from your childhood, your past or present. Here's my story:
My favorite Valentine's Day gift in almost 43 years of marriage was not flowers, chocolate, or jewelry. It was a gift that truly demonstrated how well my husband knows me. One morning, I dragged myself into my office to get some word count in before we celebrated our special day. A pile of pencils lay on my desk. They weren’t just pencils; they were the scented kind called
Smencils. I’d never seen them before, but my heart started
beating rapidly, you know, the kind of heartbeat when you see a chocolate cake,
or a pile of books you forgot you had. I sharpened one and breathed in the
delightful aroma of strawberry. And the lead was nice and dark, just the way I
like it.
This gift is even more significant because my husband hates pencils. He’d been poked with one in grade school and even has a scar on his palm to prove it. One of our rare arguments has centered on me leaving pencil erasures on his desk. To which I could only counter: “How nice it is that you never make mistakes with a pen. Pencils are forgiving and they help me think.” Although I respect his desire for a clean desk, sometimes I put a pile of pencils on his desk just to torture him.
I treasured those Smencils. Pencils aren’t just a stick of lead to me. They relax me and allow me the permission to make mistakes. They represent my hopes and dreams of being an author and give me a sense of freedom as I gather new plot and character ideas and document my daily journey of life and writing. Without pencils, I don’t believe I would have reached the goal of publication.
Flowers are a wonderful gift, but those sticks of lead
touched my heart more than I can say,
Happy Valentine’s Day, Rubber Band Man!
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My favorite valentine's memory...so far in my marriage was last year, it was my daughter's first Valentine's and my husband of course made sure she had her own stuffed animal and her own sweets to enjoy. He also got her a card that made me ugly happy cry. Moments like this when you know you picked a good one ❤️-casey r.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely story, Casey! Your hubby sounds like a keeper. Happy Valentine's Day!
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