La Langue de L'amour

Ah, it's Valentine's Day. ......a day when love is in the air.  "Love" wasn't exactly in the air this morning when I was driving to an appointment but the "language of love" was playing on the air, courtesy of the Quebec music station broadcasting via my Sirius Satellite radio.  I was enjoying picking out the stray French phrases that I knew and listening to the lovely pronunciation of the words and that got me homesick for the days when the Commander and I were speaking French daily, when we lived in Morocco.

"I REALLY need to brush up on my language skills," I thought.

Ah, but THERE'S the rub.  What language should I brush up on?  Should it be French?  I love the sound of French, love to speak it aloud.  It makes me feel all sophisticated and sultry.  It makes me want to sling a scarf around my neck, light up a cigarette and find a little bistro with a small stage to sing on.

The Commander, when he's feeling romantic, usually speaks to me in French.

"Je t'aime," he'll whisper.

I usually counter with the language of my ancestors.  "Ich liebe dich!", I'll say.

Just not the same, is it?  No matter how I try to squelch it, I usually get the feeling that the other person ought to pop up, stand at attention, click their heels, and salute.  German is a language of action.  It demands a response and a snappy one, at that.  French, on the other hand,.....well, they don't call it the language of love for nothin'.

Should I concentrate on brushing up on my German?  It IS a strong part of my heritage, after all.  I'd hate for it to die off with my generation in our family.  I really would like to pass it on to my grandchildren, at least a few phrases and sayings.  There's also a good chance that I'll get to use it again if we get over to Germany and Switzerland to do more genealogical research or just to travel over there.  I love Germany, enjoyed living there while in the Army, and would really like to get back there.

There's a third option though.  I COULD resurrect my very rusty Spanish.  We plan to move to Texas so I know there would be plenty of opportunities to speak it.  It would be a much more practical language to work on then either German or French.

I know, I know....you might be wondering, why limit yourself to just one other language?  Ah, it seems the way my brain is wired that I can only concentrate on one other language at a time.  When I was fluent in German and then started studying French, I lost almost all of my ability to converse in German.  When I stopped back in Germany and started trying to speak in German, my French started bailing on me.  Spanish jumped ship long ago.  I don't know why this is but it seems I don't have a multi-circuited brain.  I'm pretty linear.

For tonight, though, I'm not going to worry about any of this.  I'm going to express my love non-verbally as I cook up one of the Commander's favorite meals and as we raise our glasses to toast 32 years of marriage, I'm going to give him the "look of love", which doesn't need translation in any language.

Happy Valentine's Day

It didn't start out as a very promising Valentine's Day.  I was supposed to go to my diet group tonight and the Commander was disappointed that I wasn't going to be home to celebrate with him.  I was disappointed, too but figured I probably shouldn't NOT go, since I just had started back up with the group last week.

Then my one dieting buddy called to say that she wasn't going and she passed on the info that our other diet buddy was also staying home to be with her husband.  Well, that was enough for me.  With none of my friends going, why go by myself, leaving the Commander by his lonesome?

Yes, things started looking up for the evening right away.  I jumped in the car and headed off to the grocery story to pick up some ingredients for supper.  The Commander was going to just have leftovers tonight but now I'd fix him a nice meal.

I set the table with flowers, cloth napkins (pretty high-class, eh?), and a little candle for some candlelight.

The menu was Almondine Flounder, Parmesan Smashed Potatoes, Rolls, and there were supposed to be some veggies but I forgot to make the veggies.  It was probably a sub-conscious decision to forget those.  What can I say?

He was surprised to see me when he got home from work.  I was beginning to get a little worried that he might have stopped off somewhere for a bite to eat when it was almost 6 and he wasn't home but he had just worked late, thinking that I was on my way to the meeting.  Luckily, he came home hungry.

I wasn't so much hungry as I was eager to have him open his Valentine's Day present.  It's only something that he has been wanting for a long time.

I finally found just the right frame so that I could frame his "three Laura's" - his mother, our daughter, and our daughter-in-law.  He promised me that it is going to go in a special spot.

All that's left to do now is snuggle down in the recliners and enjoy the rest of the evening.  And how was your Valentine's Day?