When my now teen son started kindergarten, his first Valentine day was a pizza party at school where I had decided to volunteer. The tiny tots made cute cards, and created even more clever craft projects. The other ones, that is. Mine one drew crawling spiders all over his card – spiders represented pretty much everything under the sun for him at time, even his human stick figures looked like spiders – and happily guzzled soda (or was it juice – probably juice, my memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be in good ol days ;p) and chomped on pizza.
The day had started well enough, nice and sunny. I didn’t yet drive, and my husband was very busy doing the bidding of his then bosses, so we always walked to school. It was just a 15 minutes walk but two busy crossings made it a good 30 min job. But that day my husband wanted to be at the class party, so he dropped us, and stayed for about 10 minutes before leaving. I stayed on with my 1 year old, who happily ‘helped’ everyone by drawing gibberish on a paper and passing crayons even when no one needed them. He was social even at one.
But when it was time to leave, I found it was raining hopelessly hard and then I realized I had forgotten my cell at home. I tried my husband’s desk from the school phone but a voice message told me he had already left for lunch. My husband’s mobile used to be a national number so I could not call him from a local call phone of the school. Without the car seats, I could not take a lift for all 3 of us.
In California, it does not rain much, but when it does, it creates small pools on the road, making walking quite tough. It was a good 35-40 minutes walk, and we would be soaked and cold. Moreover my younger one had taken a fall the night before and was sporting a neat gash right on his eyebrow so getting him wet was to invite infection and puss. I was mulling over what to do next, probably wait out the rain.
And then, I turned and saw my hubby standing right behind me!
Way too surprised to react, I simply stared at him, while he flashed a dimpled smile and bundled us into his car. Even covering the distance from the door to the car was enough to drench the face and the pants .
After settling in, I turned and asked, ‘how the heck did you know and get here?”
“I had started to go out to the cafeteria for lunch and noticed the rain,so I came,’ he replied. Simply, as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world.
Which meant he skipped his lunch to come all the way,drop us home and go back.Having already taken a long break in the morning to be with his son, he could not extend the break to have lunch.
As all wives do, I often crib about how unromantic he is…flowers and chocolates don’t often feature in his to do list, be it our Anniversary or my birthday. Valentine’s Day is just another day. But then amidst all the cribbing, I remember these simple gestures, and know that at times, actions do speak way louder than words.
On this Valentine’s Day, I wanted to share with you some of his favorite foods that I have posted on this blog. Maybe you would like them too! (Sorry for the crappy pictures, I still am on the learning curve, and often get them wrong, but these are really bad as they were taken from my point and shoot camera. Point, and shoot – shoots the food too, hahaha!)
This is his all time favorite dish, and he can have it everyday were I to cook them.
Chicken Chaap: Ever since I made this after my trip to India last year, this has been a favorite with hubby, as well as one of the most visited post on the blog.
Tuna bites on pasta with vegetable platter
He loves Tuna, so it’s one fish I make whenever I get a chance.
Nepali Style Momos – steamed dumplings
Nutella Truffles: And what’s a Valentine Day without some chocolates?
So my dear readers, do you have such sweet memories where actions speak way more than words do?
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