A Lovely V-Day Gift

This past Valentine’s Day, I had one of the loveliest V-Day moments I’ve ever had. Tom and I gave Megan, our 9 year old daughter, a card that did not have any hearts on it. Nor did it have cute animals or sparkles. It was a bookmark card. The quote inside the card (and on the attached bookmark) was one from Barack Obama, who Megan has been very interested in this school year: We are all meant to shine. For those of you who know my daughter, you know this was the perfect card for her even though it lacked hearts, cute animals, or sparkles. It didn’t even contain the words “Happy Valentine’s Day”. When Megan opened the card, she read the quote, then read who supplied the quote and her face lit up, “Barack Obama!” But here’s the part I love – the part I hope I remember to my dying day, “Barack Obama wrote this for my Valentine’s Day card??” Oh, love! How incredible that she would even entertain that thought. It’s true that kids are, by nature, self-absorbed, but I’ve seen so many children with so little self esteem. Not this kid. Love starts with the self and by golly, I think she nailed it.