The Tale of the Valentine Love Spud

Photo of Appleton by Linda Seccaspina

Valentine’s Day was fast approaching, and John had no idea what to give his lovely wife Lily as a gift. He thought how handy a dust buster might be and figured that maybe he should read up on what Brad Pitt was giving Angelina Jolie and buy a cheaper version. Last year he had bought a $19.99 perfume special at Shoppers Drugmart called Desperate Housewives and that hadn’t gone over too well.

Photo by Linda Seccaspina

Watching Daniel Alfredsson play the hockey God that he is on television he continued to wrack his brain and ruled out a new ironing board cover or AA batteries for her power tools. What about a new set of snow tires he thought quietly to himself? That could be practical, and much better than the box of chocolates he had found in the street that afternoon. The box still had a ribbon attached to it and was unopened. Sad to say it looked like it had been driven over a few times and John figured it had probably been run over by a woman who received a pair of snow tires as a gift.

When they first began dating he had found a stone shaped like a heart near Mississippi Lake. He had cleaned it carefully, dated it on the back, and had written “I Love You”. That particular gift had gone over well and suddenly he had an idea. The next night before Lily came home John set the table and placed a huge bucket of KFC on the table to share. He came out of the kitchen with a plate in his hand and lovingly told her to sit down. He looked at her with tears in his eyes and said in a hushed voice,

“Lily I love you, and I just want to give you a piece of my heart for Valentine’s Day.”

Photo by Linda Seccaspina

Lily looked down and gazed at the plate and knew that John would always be her sweetheart. There lay on the dish a baked sweet potatoe shaped like a heart. He would always be her first, her last, her everything.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Dedicated to Steve