Unforgettable

Back in September, Tom gave me a gift certificate good for 2 cooking classes at this quaint little place. My first class, on tamale making, was tonight. It was really fun and I came home with a dozen tamales. But that's not what this post is about.

This post is also not about driving home from tamale class in the rain through towns with which I am unfamiliar. Suffice to say, the older I get the more I want to stay within a small circle near my house. But, that's not what this is about.

Here is what this post is about. I walked through the door tonight, trying to be quiet so I didn't disturb the boys, and as I walked past their room, Tom gestured for me to go in. Dean looked at me and said in the sweetest voice, "I wrote your name" and handed an envelope to me with my name on it. "Open it", he said. Carefully, so as not to rip the paper, I opened the envelope. Inside, resting between the folds of blue felt was a pair of earrings, long ones made of a dozen sparkly hearts all lined up in a shimmery row. "Do you know why there are so many hearts", he asked. No, I said. "It's because that's how much I love you", he said.

I don't ever want to forget that moment.