The perfect Valentine's Day

A handmade card from her nonverbal son, Shantanu, made Pragya Jha's Valentine's Day one she will never forget.

The very phrase Valentine's Day stirs up a varied array of emotions inside every human being. A day for celebrating love, the day even brings hope for those are yet to find true love. Celebrations for the day are also unique for every couple. A college freshman celebrates it by a dinner date, a young couple plans for a nice romantic getaway while for an elderly couple the day is celebrated just by spending time together over a cozy meal at home.

No matter what the celebrations are for the day, the memory of a perfect Valentine's Day is always cherished and held close to the heart because what makes it a perfect day is true love. Being married to my college sweetheart and completing 18 years of a happy marriage, I have celebrated numerous such Valentine's Days till now. In these 18 years my hubby and I have gone through all the ups and downs of life. No matter how dark and grim the future seemed, especially when our son tested positive for a genetic neurological disease just after his birth, we always faced the challenges that life threw at us by holding each other’s hands.

This year as Valentine's Day was approaching, I was expecting a nice dinner and a bouquet of roses without even knowing that destiny had decided to make the day an unforgettable one for me. An unexpected event changed my special day to a perfect one. As the evening approached, I was waiting for my son to arrive home from school. Like any other day, I checked his school bag for notes from the teachers, when I noticed that the school bag was heavier than usual.

Inside was an ordinary bag of brown paper, very nicely decorated with red hearts and kisses and hugs, along with a card. I opened the card, and tears were brimming in my eyes. It was addressed “TO MOM” and inside it was written “I love you Mom, a Happy Valentine's Day from Shantanu." Inside the paper bag there was a jar of face mask and a note from the teacher saying that it was made by Shantanu for his mom. I could no longer hold back my tears. For the first time in my life I had received a gift from him.

I went close to him and showed him the card and the gift and thanked him by saying “very good" and "well done” as he understands these words well. Though he is nonverbal, nonetheless he gave me a smile acknowledging my words. I hugged him close for a long time.

Although I have no way of knowing how much my son understood what happened that day, I know in my heart that he made my day a perfect one. A day that I will always remember till the end of time and whose memories will never ever fade away from my heart for as long as I live.

Pragya Jha

I am 40 year old and a mother of 12year old special kid .I moved to Cleveland from India one year back . I loved Cleveland from the moment moment I landed here especially Westlake city.

I have done my Masters in Computers Science and currently pursuing an online masters in ABA .I love music ,movies and travel.

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Volume 9, Issue 5, Posted 9:31 AM, 03.07.2017