Valentine's Week

​Two people immediately come to mind when I start thinking about Valentine’s week. The first person is my “little” brother, Brent. Yes, he is younger than me but he definitely towers over me. Brent was born during one of the most memorable snowstorms—blizzard actually—of my life. The piles of snow on either side of the driveway and roads were so crazily high. My Dad would plow a path from our house to my Grandparents. He decided to make us a snow mountain out of the snow from the path he made. I kid you not, the snow pile was as high as the second story roof of our house. Brent always had a love for the outdoors, especially the winter. Anyways, Brent is an awesome brother, and he will always hold a special spot in my heart. Can’t wait to go visit him in South Carolina and give him a bear hug. The other person that comes to mind during Valentines week is Grandpa Z. The picture of the rabbit was a recreation of a valentine he gave me where HE (not Grandma Z) actually picked it out and wrote a special greeting to me for Valentine’s Day. It was always one of my special treasures. I liked that card so much that when I was tasked to do something for work, I drew that rabbit leaning on the name of the business. I’ve since cut the name of the business out and hung the bunny in my bakery. It always makes me think about Grandpa Z. There was one more thing that Grandpa Z did that became a family joke. He would give Grandma Z a box of chocolates, but some of the candies would be missing. If you looked at the bottom of the rest of the candies, there would be this odd indentation/puncture revealing the fillings. That was Grandpa poking the candy to find his favorites before giving his gift to Grandma. As we close out this Valentine’s Week, let the spirit of brotherly love, kindness, and treating others as you want to be treated spill over into the rest of the year.