Happy Show Your Love Day!!

                                    

Valentine's Day.  The day of love.  The day designated to show that special someone or them special someones exactly how much you care.

Unless you're engaged to me, and then it's just a day to be corrupted by commercial advertising in an attempt to obtain money to buy stuff for a feeling that should be shown every day (gotta love Hubby).

Yeah, I'm one of the lucky ones engaged to a guy who absolutely despises Valentine's Day and refuses to be be sucked in to a holiday that (in his mind) is about nothing more than spending money.  Sorry girls, he's taken.

But in all seriousness, Hubby really does show me how much he loves me most days of the year.  He doesn't need one particular day to show it.  Although I'm not going to lie.. I wouldn't mind getting a little something on Valentine's Day.  But, how can I complain when I have a man that loves to cook, will clean, is an amazing father to our children, will listen when I need to talk, actually doesn't mind going shopping, and tells me he loves me daily?  I definitely don't need flowers or chocolate or teddy bears to know.

Just because he doesn't believe in Valentine's Day, though, doesn't mean I don't celebrate.  I just choose to focus on other people I care about in my celebrations... and that is mostly focused on my biological kids and my kids in my class.  

Valentine's Day has become a kid focused event for me.  It's all about showing the kids in my life how much I love them... or at least doing something nice for them as a small gesture to show them how much I care.  Whether that be in the form of candy or small trinkets or a class party or whatever I decide to do on the actual day.

Today, my class is getting a party.  My biological kids will get a Crush soda and some candy delivered to them in their classrooms.  Except for my youngest, who will have to get her Crush and candy when she gets to my school... but she'll be having an ice-cream party in her own classroom.

Yeah, at my school, the Student Council sells Crush Soda with or without candy to be specially delivered on Valentine's Day.  And, being that I'm a StuCo sponsor, it was my job to buy all the Crush soda for the event.

On Tuesday, we had only sold 3.  Didn't look so good.  But last night I had to make sure I had over 100 Crush sodas.  That's not too shabby AT ALL.  Kids have been giving StuCo $1, filling out a card, and then StuCo takes care of the rest.  

It is a great fundraiser, and a great way for kids to get something small for their friends and teachers.  

Last night, Peanut and I went to Walmart to buy the cases of Crush Soda we needed.  When we got there, I felt like we had somehow been thrown back in time back to Christmas Eve.  The amount of people at that store!!  It took forever just to get through the parking lot due to the droves of people heading in and out, and we had to park a ways from the store due to so many cars being in the parking lot.  When we got into the store, the aisles were PACKED with people trying to do their last minute Valentine's shopping.

Thankfully, the area by the soda was pretty empty and Peanut and I were able to load up the cart with our cases of Crush with no problems.  I received a few weird looks from people watching us load the soda in to the cart as if it was some apocalyptic event, and Crush soda was the item needed to make it through.  We had 5 twelve packs of orange Crush, a twenty-four pack of orange Crush, 6 twelve packs of grape Crush, and 2 twelve packs of peach Crush.  That's a total of 168 cans of Crush!

Seeing all the people rummage around the Valentine's section gave me the urge to jump right in there and buy a few small things for some people I work with.  There are a few people I work with that have been super special to me, and mean a lot to me. I thought it would be nice to get them a little something to thank them for that.  Not something I usually do on Valentine's Day, but it never hurts to have a good excuse to buy stuff for people that mean a lot to me.

Once Peanut and I had made it through the crowds and managed to pay for all our stuff, we headed back out to the car to unload it all in to the trunk.  While we were doing that, I heard an "excuse me ma'am" from behind me.  

Now, I'm not going to lie.  When it's dark outside, I'm a little more cautious of my surroundings... but I was caught off guard looking up and seeing a large man standing right by my car trying to get my attention.  I immediately got a little nervous, which is very sad to admit.  

But, anywho, this large guy begins to tell me that he's been sitting in the parking lot for over two hours because he ran out of gas and had no money to get gas.  He asked if I had a few dollars to spare.  I did have cash in my wallet.  But, it didn't belong to me...not all of it.  It was StuCo money designated for buying soda.  I had also gotten a $20 back when buying my stuff in the store.  But, I didn't have " a few dollars" to give the guy.  So, I told him I didn't have any cash on me. 

Seeing his expression of disappointment when I told him that, though, warmed my heart.  I felt sorry for him.  I could see that he was genuinely in trouble and wasn't trying to scam me or had any intent of trying to steal from me. So, I asked him if he had a gas tank that we could put some gas in to.  He (and his friend that I hadn't noticed before) began frantically looking through their car, and did find a small gas can but it had no nozzle and was cracked.  The large guy's friend told me that he could probably get his car up to the gas station located in the parking lot of Walmart.  I told him if he was able to do that, I would gladly pay with my debit card to put a few bucks worth of gas in their tank to get them home.

The look of relief that washed over their faces was quite touching.  They really were pretty desperate and had obviously thought they were going to be spending the night in their car.

After coaxing the car to start, the driver managed to get the car started and drove it the 500 feet or so in to the gas station.  I followed him up there, and pumped a couple of gallons of gas in to their car.  The guys were so grateful and explained how many people they had asked for help and had been rejected, and how many "friends" they'd contacted by phone that had refused to drive up there to help them.  I felt sorry for them.  And I also felt very glad that I was able to help them out.  

Good deed for the day.  It felt nice.  Definitely a great way to pay it forward.  

After all that, it was back home for Peanut and I.  

Thankfully, we didn't have to unload the car when we got home. Everything we bought is going to school with us today, so we were able to leave it right in the trunk.  Now, unloading it when we get to school will be fun.. but I think I'm going to save that job for a couple of jr. high boys who will gladly help me out, I'm sure.

Right now, though, it's that time when I have to get ready for work.  I want to leave a little early today because I've got a lot to do before my kiddos make their way in to the classroom this morning.

Everyone have a very happy Valentine's Day!!