Tristan's Valentine Card

The phone rang mid-morning. Mr. Fun answered it. A little excited voice spoke, "Thank you for my fire truck Valentine and the money." Mr. Fun went running for the other phone to hand to me so I could hear and talk too. It was our great-grandson Tristan, who is almost 3 years old.

We haven't seen Tristan since mid-July when he and his mommy left California. Desiree, Tristan's mommy, was moving them to Oklahoma to live with with her mom. It was a very sad moment in our lives. (Some of my blipper friends remember.) We have heard from them seldom since they left here.

We learned in late December that Desiree's mom, our former daughter-in-law, was moving to Arkansas because her husband had an offer for a better job there. Desiree and Tristan were not going to go with them because Desiree's mom wasn't going to rent a house with enough room for all of them. So Des and Tristan were going to be in Oklahoma by themselves. Did that make any sense to us? Of course not. Then we learned that Desiree was offered a place to live in Florida with a girlfriend who is in the military, the Coast Guard, so Desiree and Tristan are now living in Florida.

Now our granddaughter and our great-grandson are on the other side of the continent from us. What a thrill to hear their voices this morning.

Tristan's 3rd birthday will be Tuesday, February 16. So I asked Des if she would send us some photos from his birthday and she said she would. Then immediately after we hung-up she sent me a text-message. It said, "I just asked Tristan what he wanted to buy with his Valentine money and he said a wallet." Mr. Fun & I both laughed and then all day long repeated that thought to each other . . . he's going to buy a wallet!

Moments later my phone lit-up again this time with the photo of Tristan that I have used for my blip today. He's holding the fire truck Valentine card that we had mailed him. He's so excited about that fire truck that immediately after talking to him on the phone, we got on the Internet and order him a fire truck toy that will be delivered in time for his birthday this next week.

I think, I hope, that Desiree in some way realizes how much we love her and her little boy. We also sent a Valentine card to Des with some money for her. Desiree has had a difficult life with parents who separated when she was very little. Her teenage years were very troubling with deep valleys and few victories. She turned 21 on January 30th. She phoned us that day because her birthday card and gift had arrived and she felt honored. We think she is full of potential and we're anxious for her to tap into that. It was nothing less than exciting to hear from Desiree and Tristan today.

So I want to continue with a poem from Ted Kooser's book and you might think this one rather strange today, but I think Kooser's "old beer bottle" is a good symbol of some relationships. If that doesn't make sense, don't worry about it -- much of life doesn't make sense.


A HEART OF GOLD

It's an old beer bottle
with a heart of gold. There's a lot
of defeat in those shoulders,
sprinkled with dandruff, battered
by years of huddling up
with good buddies, out of the wind.

This is no throwaway bottle.
Full of regret and sad stories,
here it comes, back into your life
again and again, ready to stand
in front of everyone you know
and let you peel its label off.

Now, from the wet formica tabletop,
it lifts its sweet old mouth to yours.

by Ted Kooser
Valentines: Poems

Presidential Professor of the University of Nebraska
former U.S. poet laureate
winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry


I'm posting late tonight because Mr. Fun took me out for a date.
We pretended it was Valentine's Day and had a blast! We'll pretend all
the way to Sunday and then we'll celebrate some more!

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol

P.S. Thank you everyone for all the fun and meaningful and warm comments! I hope your mailbox contains a Valentine. I love Blipfoto and all of YOU!