the ladies in my life

There are only a few people you can rely on in life and luckily enough or not, for me they are family. A week from now will be Valentine's Day and the tradition here in Korea is that the woman is supposed to give chocolate to the man. Why? I don't know, but let's just say I'm not expecting much. Me, I prefer the Canadian tradition of either moping all day, giving cards to every lady I know, or sending flowers to that special someone. I tried the last one twenty-one years ago. I went to the flower shop where my mom had been working part-time and selected a bouquet including blue irises and tiger lilies for Barbara, the girl I mentioned in my post about the Toronto film festival. Apparently her mother really liked them, or so her sister told me. Barbara was keeping a low profile. Since then I've actually had girlfriends and been married on Valentine's Day. This year, no such luck. My mom will be getting a cheer-up phone call in the nursing home she just moved into and my daughter will be getting chocolate. She really likes Toblerone white chocolate bars. As it happens, so do I. Maybe she'll share.