a surprise, yet not quite a surprise

I was walking up the stairs to my third floor office, when a not-so-familiar, but smiling-and-friendly girl started climbing up with me. We chatted about how wet the weather is and such.

And she followed me up three flights of stairs and through the front door to my office.

Struck me as odd, but, then again, may be she is visiting one of her friends, I said to myself, when she stopped and very sweetly asked, "Can you help me find this person? I have a valentine-a-gram to deliver."

Yes, indeed, it was for me!

I could have saved her the climb upstairs if we had gotten to business sooner :-)

A while back, I called to find out if they could deliver a valentine-a-gram to where D works. Turns out they won't be able to. Plus, it so happens, D works at a high security building which does not have a front office. Of course, there is a front office for his company in another building where they accept all standard deliveries... seemed pretty complicated to arrange.

So, I sent the link to D telling him this is what I wanted to get him. And left the rest unsaid...

D, I know you don't read my blogs, and I know I am not going to quit asking, "Have you read my posts this week?", even if I know the answer... but, I just want to let you know that I appreciate you a lot more than I manage to let on.

• thank you for taking the garbage out, for taking care of kitty litter box, for taking the compost bucket out to the yard to empty it in the bin always
  
• even though you have no patience to listen to my daily bantering about mundane happenings at work and such, thank you for listening patiently when it counts: when I worry about Baby, when I am unable to emotionally handle some things...
  
• thank you for never yelling or swearing, not even when i push all the wrong buttons and you are justified in pushing back
• when i kicked and fussed about the Dryer making rattling noises and not drying the clothes, i am really glad you were resourceful enough to diagnose the problem, order parts, and fix it
  
• when I look around the house and see all the little (and the not-so-little) touches you added, i can't help but admire
• i like the way you appreciate even my simplest craft/sewing/crochet creations
• when i start getting flustered about something, thank you for asking the right questions and helping me identify what is troubling me; it helps tame the monster my emotional mind creates out of panic
• when i excitedly present a confection from my experiments in the kitchen and await your input breathlessly, thank you for honestly stating, "looks like somebody sat on it": i appreciate your sense of humor

Does it mean I find you flawless? Of course not, you wouldn't be human otherwise...

But, does it matter? Not when your thoughtfulness outweighs it... not today.

Happy Valentine's Day!