Valentine's Day

Gorgeous... an absolutely gorgeous day today. Nice and sunny and warm, not even a sweater needed for outside. Finally... our own weather back again.

We went out to Babbo Bruno's for a Valentine lunch this afternoon, being that my husband has to teach a class tonight. The restaurant was more crowded than usual for lunch-time, so I guess a lot of other couples wanted to beat the night-time rush. And they will get crowded tonight--- they had taken so many reservations for the night that they ran out of writing space in their book.

I think Stefano saved the best fish for Valentine's Day...... Hawaiian Sea Bass.... made in a very light sauce with white wine, gold raisins, pine nuts and thinly sliced apples. So good, and he arranged it so beautifully on the plate. That man truly loves to cook and must truly love to see beautiful food leaving his kitchen. No matter how busy he gets, he almost always manages to run out of the kitchen to say hello to us and ask us how everything tastes.

After lunch, my husband and I went to the hospital to see F....... she's still in the ICU...... still hooked up to oxygen, but at least they didn't have that huge, heavy mask on her face today. She was able to speak, but just a few words, and her voice hardly sounded like her own. She was picking at a lunch plate when we walked into her room. I was surprised to see that they gave her solid foods.... some type of chicken, with mashed potatoes and vegetables. She barely touched the mashed potatoes (she said they weren't good), she didn't touch the chicken at all (Are you sure that's chicken?), and she just moved the vegetables around on her plate a little bit.

F seemed to like the Jello that was on the plate.... it was orange-flavored, with bits of fruits set into it. I told her to at least eat all of the Jello if that was the only thing on the tray that appealed to her. F looked at my husband and whispered: "She's a bossy little thing, isn't she?" Nice to know that her sense of humor hasn't left her. The hospital kitchen had put two heart-shaped Valentine cookies on the tray. My husband suggested she try those. She just shook her head. I'm sure she wasn't in a Valentine mood, but it was a nice gesture from the hospital.

F wanted to know all about the party...... we sort of low-keyed it, not wanting to tell her how much fun we all had. I did tell her that the men beat the ladies at Charades, and I told her we lost because she wasn't there to help us win.

It was a bittersweet visit....... it pains me to see F so helpless in that bed. My eyes just puddle up every time I leave her room now. I keep hearing F's voice telling me "We're not guaranteed tomorrow," which is something she used to always tell me.

Two words again for everyone: Don't smoke.