Literally.

Susan handed out Valentine’s treats a few days early. The kids and I ended up with boxes of Valentine’s Peeps that stained our lips and teeth red. I got a plant for my desk at work.

Sunday, we made the rounds and handed out our Valentines. We caught Susan’s mom at Sonic, where we delivered a vase of flowers to her car. After dropping a second vase of flowers off at my mom’s house, we stopped by Spanish Cove (our local retirement home) so that Morgan could hand deliver the Valentine’s Day card she made to Doreen. Doreen is 91-years-old. Morgan met her while out singing Christmas carols, and visited her again recently. Doreen was very excited that Morgan stopped by, and really appreciated the card.

Then, it was off to feed the birds.

I’m not sure where Susan got the bread this time, but she usually gets stale bread cheap, or for free. Sometimes it’s just a loaf; this time, it was a sack. We’ve got two or three regular haunts — the duck pond in our neighborhood is one, the sailboat docks out by Lake Hefner is another. This time it was the Bethany Library.

The thrill wears off pretty quickly for me, but as far as the kids are concerned, we always run out of bread before they run out of enthusiasm. It’s interesting to watch the kids interact with the birds, and the birds with one another. Morgan likes to single out birds and feed specific ones, while Mason likes tossing handfuls of bread into groups of birds and watch the feathers fly (occasionally literally).

Valentine’s Day is tough. I make no claim of understanding women, but from what I gather, women read too much into Valentine’s gifts, and men don’t read enough into them. People worry about spending too much on a gift, or not enough. When people tell you “it’s the thought that counts,” you had better think about it real hard.

I don’t know if I did good this Valentine’s Day or not. All I know is, I had the best time walking through the mud, taking a few pictures and spending time with my family, feeding the birds.