Valentine’s Day reminds me of a purple lollipop.
This is one of my favorite stories from childhood that I have shared a bunch of times with my kids and never let my brother forget.
Before Kindergarten, I had never heard of this wonderful holiday called Valentine’s Day. I still remember bringing home the brown paper bag filled with candy, from Mrs. Pottoff’s class.
I set the treasure on my bedside table. As the days went by, I noticed my bag was loosing some of it’s prized possessions.
I was cool and calm when I went to my little brother about the missing candy. I told him it was all right. I didn’t mind sharing. In fact, I told him that he could have any and all of the candy that he wanted, with one exception: he had to promise not to eat my only purple lollipop.
There was something special about this ordinary grape lollipop. I wanted to wait for just the right time to enjoy it. Days later, I took a look inside my crumpled brown paper bag to find that my lollipop was gone!
How could this have happened? Wasn’t my brother happy enough with all the rest of the candy? I ran after my him yelling, “How could you?!” It was the most angry I had ever been with him in my whole little life. He apologized and I say I forgave him. However, every year around around Valentine’s Day, I’d remind him and share with anyone whom had not yet heard the story.
The best part is how he turned it around. . .
On my 18th birthday, my brother surprised me by covering my bedroom floor with countless purple lollipops! I was so happy, I most certainly cried.
So today, I took a peek inside the brown paper Valentine’s Day bags that my children brought home from school. Low and behold, we found a little purple lollipop! I shared this story with them for the first time and they laughed, imagining me running after their Uncle Mark. They insisted that I have the treat, even though they know that it wasn’t really all about the candy.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
