My Valentine’s Day career can be broken down into three sub-categories:  HALF-PINT, SKINNY ROMEO, and LANKY PAPA.

Mets shirt, check. Yankees hat…what was wrong with me?

My HALF-PINT stage started at birth, and ended at twenty-five years old.  As a HALF-PINT (weight fluctuating from 10lbs. to 155lbs.), my parents showed unconditional love, and once I moved away, they would always call and send a Valentine’s card.  Starting in college, I would meet up with a few buddies on Valentine’s night, drinking brews, getting angry at Hallmark, and talking smack about women.  This continued until my mid-twenties.

“Some say love it is a flower…I just look like a fool.”

At the age of twenty six, I became a Valentine’s Day SKINNY ROMEO (weight fluctuating from 155lbs. to 158lbs.).  I met the girl of my dreams, and for some reason, wanted to do nice things for her on Valentine’s Day.  Our first Feb. 14th fell about a month after us meeting.  Tricky.  You don’t want to do too much, or too little.  Lucy was out all night at rehearsal, so I coordinated with her roommate, and swung by and dropped a bouquet of roses off in her bedroom.  Well, I guess my lady went to sleep that night without turning on the bedroom light, and never saw them.  I didn’t call her that day, because I wanted her to see the flowers first, and she never called me because she thought I had blown her off.  When Lucy discovered the roses the next morning, SKINNY ROMEO wasn’t such a jerk after all.  For the next five years, which included our marriage and Lucy becoming pregnant, I always tried to surprise her with something special, and she did the same.  SKINNY ROMEO had met his match.

Is that guy that lanky in real life?

This year, I’m celebrating Valentine’s Day for the first time as a LANKY PAPA (weight fluctuating from 158lbs. to 162lbs.).  I have a wife and a kiddo to spend the day with, and that’s how it will be from now on.  Valentine’s Day will be about showing Babs how much I love her mama, and teaching her about heart.  Actually, I take that back, she has taught this LANKY PAPA so much about heart already.  Our baby has shown us strength, courage, and heart from the beginning, overcoming her open heart surgery at three days old.

Babs’ journey has introduced us to a community of fellow heart parents, who are equally proud of their little ones, as we all bring awareness to congenital heart defects (CHD’s).

Valentine’s Day is the final day of Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Week, so please keep all of our tiny heart superheroes in your thoughts and prayers today.

To wrap this whole story together, here is a recap of my life on Valentine’s Day:

HALF-PINT – My parents taught me how to love.

 SKINNY ROMEO – I met the woman that stole my heart.

LANKY PAPA – My daughter taught us about an entirely different type of heart.