Mine is a very small town. There’s the “village” part, and then there are all of the houses scattered in the surrounding area. There really aren’t neighborhoods as there are in cities.
A few years back, I decided that so spread out, many of the town’s elderly probably needed a little stimulation off and on. They needed a little contact, a little something out of the ordinary to perk their minds, a little love. Valentine’s Day would provide a real opportunity.
With the collusion of our post-mistress, I gathered the names and addresses of all 39 of the town’s elderly.
Then I baked up 39 pretty little heart-shaped molded cookies, using heart cookie stamps and cut-apart heart cookie molds. I placed each cookie in a plastic sandwich bag, and I tied each bag closed with a ribbon and a cut-out paper heart tag which read “Be my Valentine!” or “From your Secret Admirer”. I swore Sue to secrecy, and we delivered the cookies.
The recipients LOVED it! The cookie was sweet, but the mystery of where the cookie came from was sweeter still. It drove everybody nuts. They knew that Sue had been part of the plot. They tried to pry the information out of her for months, to no avail. We never told.
So make someone smile and wonder why they just got a Valentine kiss; where did it come from? Make some cookies. Drop anonymous little gifts on the desks of all of your co-workers (include yourself!), put them in teachers’ “in” boxes, take a basket to a nursing home. Share the love.
