Being single I hadn’t really planned a ‘valentines’ post. So why do I find myself writing one and why is a day late?

I have an urge to start this post with, ‘Once upon a time, in a far distant place……..” and give you a  story about being single on valentines night. How I don’t need a partner and how the media have commercialised another day in the calendar. But, that isn’t me, so I am going to tell you about my afternoon and evening instead. 

We have an after school treat day. Once a week on the way home, the kids and I pop into the local shop and choose some sweets. Thursday is our day.  I’m not entirely sure how it came to be a Thursday, but it did and it has stuck. 

Duty bound, we popped into our local shop yesterday afternoon. I gave the two that were with me £1.00 each and headed of to buy what I know the oldest, would have wanted. A couple of minutes later, I was greeted by two smiling children, ‘Daaaaaaad, can we have an extra £1.00 between us please’. This wasn’t a rare occurrence and normally they got a straight no. However, on this occasion, I gave in and handed them an extra £1.00 and as they wandered off, I could be heard verbally muttering ‘bloody kids, I’m not made of money, rant, rant’, as I continued with my shopping.

The rest of the day continued as normal, homework, playtime, TV, dinner and baths. Just before bed time, the two youngest members of the household disappeared and on return I was presented with a big bag of Jelly Babies. ‘Happy Valentines Dad’ and the gift was swiftly followed by a big hug from all three. I held back the tears (mainly from the guilt of my earlier assumption that they wanted the extra £1.00 for extra sweets for themselves) and decided that tonight wasn’t going to be the same old routine. 

With the eldest being nearly a teen, he would be able to have a little extra Xbox time tonight. That could be his valentine gift from me. It is the last day of term today, so a slight extension to his normal bedtime last night, wouldn’t do him much harm. 

The other two and myself got into our PJ’s.  I grabbed a cuppa, some biscuits the Jelly Babies and we all jumped into my bed and sat and watched a film.

We laughed, we giggled and we got crumbs everywhere. We were joined by the eldest towards the end as we watched some old video clips on my phone of them growing up. By about 10 o’clock, the big boy was asleep in his bed, the other two had farted, wriggled and twisted  themselves to sleep. So after carrying them to their own beds I returned to my bed and fell asleep.

I was sat with my coffee this morning and it dawned on me. Yes, I had spent another valentines night alone. This time in a bed with biscuit crumbs all over and the fitted sheet off at the corners. But, I had spent the afternoon and evening with 3 other people who all mutually loved each other unconditionally. Yes, we argue sometimes, yes we get stressed and fall out sometimes. But the true love for each other can not be broken. That’s what valentines should be all about. 

Who needs Netflix and Chill when you already have Netflix and Chill.

That’s my no valentine, Valentines day post.

Written by Ian Northeast for his blog Dad’s Delicious Dinners!

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