Today is the feast day of St. Valentine, the patron saint of lovers. Nowadays, although Valentine's Day is overly commercialized, as are Christmas and Easter, even us singletons can celebrate this day with close family and friends. Right now, my heart is heavy with the recent losses of our fellow vixen Debra Jacobs and my old family friend Josephine Belle last weekend. Whitney Houston's shocking death last Saturday also looms large, with her music and vídeos in constant rotation on TV and radio and news coverage, etc. They come in threes, so they say. God bless Jo, Debra and Whitney. Peace be with their families and with loved ones who are in mourning. I also remember a former co-worker, Velma Valentine, who passed away ten years ago this month and whose funeral I attended in Harlem on, you guessed it, Valentine's Day. Having to deal with the loss of someone dear during this time meant to celebrate love is sobering, isn't it, not to mention strange and painful.
On a brighter note, today is the birthday of Vincent's son Luka, who turns four years old. How time flies! I hope the D'Onofrio family has an extremely awesome b-day celebration for the little guy, who will no doubt be a big guy like his daddy someday. On a more personal note, my grand nephews Julian and Nicholas Hall will turn 3 and 6 years old in March. Their mommy is my older brother's daughter Amanda Acevedo-Hall, who just became my Facebook friend.:) Mandy recently turned 29 in November and is a registered nurse and a married mother of three boys. Her son Nicholas has autism, and so does my kid brother Alberto, as you already know. Alberto has been a busy bee lately, making hearts and cards to give to his friends and teachers at school today. Next thing he'll work on will be making shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day. We'll be seeing green around here for the next month, starting tomorrow. That's my boy. :)
I just want to tell all of you that I love you. I love my family and friends and my hometown and my country. I love God and all his good works and need to value everything and everyone I love all the more now. God bless us all.
Happy Valentine's Day.
Happy Valentine's day for you, too Blanca. I'm sorry for the lost of your friend.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Antje. I didn't intend for my post to be so morose. That's what happens when you write a blog entry in the wee hours of the morning. :) I'm feeling better now, though. I went to lunch with friends and my dad bought me red roses. We also gave Mom candy and flowers, and she cheered up a bit. She and Jo had known each other for many years and visited the same beauty salon for more than 20 years, usually every Friday. Today was the funeral, btw.
ReplyDeleteI hope your Valentine's Day rocked. I love you.
Hugs and much power to your family in this hard time.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I had no Valentine's day but a great working day. I tried something new what turned out very well and hopefully helpful for the future.
It was a sad week indeed. But looking ahead to brigther days.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Antje and Vikeau. They already are, thanks to friends like you. :)
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