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The virus was probably to blame for the fact that for the first time ever we didn't exchange any gifts or even cards. We did get a takeaway, but I correctly surmised that if we didn't order it the moment the restaurant opened then we wouldn't get any food. So our meal arrived at 6pm whilst the kids were still up and so we ended up barely eating together and with my wife finishing her meal as I put the kids in the bath.
We've come a long way in the thirteen years since our first Valentine's Day. I didn't write about our date at the restaurant above the National Gallery (I do keep private things private on here, at least when they are in the process of happening) and instead wrote about
the ethics of eating people who had agreed to be eaten (ever the romantic). I mean I hope I didn't discuss that during our special meal, but knowing me I probably did. And if I did, it wasn't enough to put the woman off.
I wasn't drinking that February (I did 100 days that year) and I am not drinking again now. But aside from that, it's a pretty different experience.
My parents have been dating for 70 years as of today and my dad sent a picture of the flowers and cards that they had sent each other. That's a pretty unbeatable life time of love. It seems unlikely that my wife and I will make it to 70 years. Though the good news, if we do, is that I am not yet halfway through my life.
It was a cracking family day though. Even though the wind was icy we all went up to the rec and tried to fly a kite that Phoebe had been given for her birthday. Neither of us really knew what we were doing (and the instructions assumed I was enough of a kite expert to know where to attach the string to the kite). But after a few flops (though to be fair Phoebe was excited even when the wind briefly caught the kite and sent it two feet in the air) I found the best attachment spot and we worked out how to get the kite to catch the wind and suddenly my daughter was flying the thing. She seemed to have quite a knack for it too, rescuing it from disaster when it started spinning towards the ground. It was extremely satisfying and we spent a good 45 minutes together, sharing in this magic, with my daughter claiming that the wind liked her and didn't like me. And from our respective efforts it was hard to disagree.
I remember really wanting a kite as a kid. There was one in the Green Shield Stamps catalogue (and if you don't know what that is, then there's no real point in explaining it) and finally my parents agreed to exchange their hard won booklets for it. I remember so much about getting the kite: my Aunty Jean was with us, the kite was orange, I am pretty sure this was the occasion that she'd maybe parked on a yellow line and a policeman questioned her and thought she was taking the piss when she told him her surname was Pickup. I can't however remember anything about actually flying the kite. Probably because it was a total failure. But it was a story (and maybe the story of my life) of the wanting of something being more exicting than the having of something. So the victory of stamp based purchase it etched into my memory, but the defeat of trying to get the thing into the sky has been wiped. What happened to the coveted kite? One expedition out into the world and then stuffed into the attic or dustbin? Or did we use it so much that it fell apart? Or let go of it so it flew away?
I don't think it was ever airborne.
Imagine a kite being symbolic of something.
This kite has made up for all that. I mean I can see how kites don't last long. They get battered, string gets knotted, they're hard to store and young minds get excited by something else. But even if this kite has just the one outing (and I think it will get more) this was a special father/daughter experience which I won't forget. And I hope my daughter will remember. Do you Phoebs?
