Every year around this time, she would shop for a cute red outfit for Valentine’s Day. This year Susan settled on a red cardigan, plaid skirt, black Mary Janes with skulls on the sides and a small broach that looked like a tube of lipstick and a small black coin purse. Why all the attention to detail, well it a special day and she wanted to dress appropriately. Today she was she was going to visit her dad and introduce him to her husband. They got in the car with their snacks, the flower she had just received from John and started the seventy-mile drive. John was really excited to meet his father in law and prepared for the drive. The car ride was serene; the only sound you would hear would be the crunch of a potato chip or an occasional slurp of soda. John was nervous, he had heard so much about his father in law but after four years of marriage, he had yet been able to meet him. When he would ask his wife, he was told that he was away on business but there was nothing to worry about.
After a brief nap, John awoke to the tap of Susan’s finger on his shoulder. After composing himself, he looked around and said, “Why are we in a field?” Susan shook her head and said, “Come on follow me, grabbing the flower her husband had given her.” Bewildered John proceeded to follow her and looked around and asked said “Are we at a cemetery, what are we doing here?” Susan was not listening to him, so John called out again “Susan, wait a minute”, and ran to catch up to her. “John, I’d like you to meet my father”, she said. “Father, I thought you said….” He looked at the ground and saw his father in laws’ headstone. With tears in his eyes, he finally understood why she was always hesitant to talk about him. Susan said, I think I should explain…. My father died on this day exactly fifteen years ago, I was hesitant to talk about him with you because I did not want to show you my pain. The reason I picked this outfit is not that it is just Valentine’s Day; it is because of what my father used to tell me. I wear red to show the overpowering love that I have for him. The black on my Mary Jane shoes symbolizes all of those whom have passed.” John said, “And the broach? What does the lipstick on the broach represent?” Susan smiled, “it reminds me of the little things. My fathers always said “cherish the little things in life because you don’t know when they are taken away from you.” She then placed the flower in her hand on his grave. They embraced; John whispered in her ear “I love you”.