There comes that time when growing up, when you no longer give Valentines to everyone in your class. Just that special someone you are crushing on. I think it happens around middle school. This was a particularly hard time for me, since I never got a Valentine from a special someone, no matter how hard I was crushing on him. Silly clueless pre-teen boys.
About this time my father started "The Valentine Phantom". He'd slip my brother and I a little Valentine. It would be typed, not signed, from "The Valentine Phantom." It was suppose to make me feel better - see I was getting a Valentine. At the time it didn't. I was 13, what did I know? But now I think it was sweet. And I still have those typed Valentines.
I have taken on the mask of the Valentine Phantom. Each year at work I give out the silliest Valentines I can find (Scooby-doo, Seseme Street, Nsynch) along with some candy. Yes, I realize that posting this blows my cover (not that it's really a secret). But it's a little way to remember my dad and keep him close to my heart.
I love you Dad. You'll always be my special Valentine.
