Tuesday 12 February 2013

Valentine Feature Week Guest Post: Liz Harris talks about her most memorable Valentine's Day gift

Today I'm delighted to welcome Liz Harris to the blog to talk about her most memorable Valentine's gift from her husband... I bet you won't be able to guess what it was ;-)

With the 14th February fast approaching, and with hearts racing at the thought of cards and gifts, I thought I'd pick a memorable St. Valentine's Day present from the past, and tell you about it.

Next August, I'll have been married to the same man for 35 years. I can hardly believe it's that long, but it is. It was going to be extremely difficult to choose just one of the many St. Valentine's Day presents I've received over the years , I thought.

But it wasn't. One present stood out above all the others, despite it having been given to me some 31 years ago. 

First, to put this into context. We had two little boys, aged 3 and 2, and we were absolutely broke. We literally didn’t have a penny to spend on luxuries, such as flowers and chocolates, and I would not have been a happy bunny to receive something that shrieked SQUANDERED MONEY. The boys’ needs were our number one priority.


St. Valentine’s Day arrived. We exchanged cards over breakfast, and I was satisfied with that.

When Richard got home that evening, I was very surprised to see him put a white plastic bag on the table in front of me. It was clearly from the butcher’s, and from Richard’s expression, it was equally clearly a present for me, even though there wasn’t a satin bow in sight.


I opened it. It was 2lbs of lamb cutlets.

You have to understand that Richard LOATHED lamb, and I LOVED it. It was my favourite meat but I hadn’t been able to cook it since we got married. Richard couldn’t even bear the smell of lamb so there was no question of me doing a lamb chop for him and a lamb cutlet for me. And since the boys had been born, we’d not been able to eat out.

Over the following couple of days, I cooked my cutlets and very much enjoyed them, and during that time, Richard fixed a lot of things that needed fixing outside the house.

A present like that spoke volumes, and I’ve never forgotten it. I hope that this year all of you receive something equally memorable, which helps to make this your best ever St. Valentine’s Day.

Thank you, Sharon, for asking me to do a guest post. I hope your readers enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed my foray back into the past.


Thanks Liz, just goes to show you don't have to receive diamonds (although they are nice) to make a gift memorable.

To find out more about Liz and her books, why not visit:   

Website: http://www.lizharrisauthor.com
Twitter: @lizharrisauthor 


Book Links:
The Road Back: paperback or Kindle
Evie Undercover: Kindle
A Bargain Struck (Sept 2013): paperback (Kindle link not available yet)

9 comments:

  1. What a lovely way to show his love. I can so understand how much that meant to you. I've been in the position of not wanting chocs or flowers because of the money situation and with children's needs to worry about. Hope you get something equally thoughtful this year!

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  2. Thank you for your comment, Amanda. Yes, I wonder what I get this year. He won't be able to top my lamb cutlets, though, I'm sure.

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  3. What a lovely surprise for you. The saying - 'It's the little things that mean the most' is true I have found. x

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  4. ROTFL!!!! Lovely one. Has Richard learned to love lamb over the years?? Oddly neither Pam or I have ever been big Valentines fans - probably because we've spent so much time apart and/or overseas. Still, we've made it through 37 years so far!

    John

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  5. It was, thank you, Mandy.

    We're catching you up, John. No, Richard hates lamb to this day. Whenever he goes away, I go straight round to the butcher in the village and buy lamb. The butcher always says, Richard away then, is he?'

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  6. That's so sweet. The most romantic gestures are always the most personal ones, rather than necessarily the most extravagant or most spectacular.

    We don't really do valentines in our house, but the one year that EngineerBoy did buy me a present it was a dictionary and thesaurus. Not at all romantic, apart from that, about 8 months earlier I'd mentioned for the very first time that I might possibly, very tentatively, maybe, one day want to do writing. For some reason I'd decided that a Proper Writer ought to own a Proper Dictionary. That was about 3-4 years before I actually got around to doing anything about being a writer, but I've still got the dictionary and thesaurus and they still remind me that someone cares enough to remember what my dreams are, even before I've fully embraced them myself :-)

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  7. How special is that, even more so than flowers, chocolates etc. Greater love hath no man ....

    An act like that must surely impress you forever. Lamb doesn't sound romantic (Lizzie, excepted!) but that's one of the most romantic things I ever read.

    Can I say it's mint? :)

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  8. What a very sweet gesture on his part. Has his taste changed at all? I can't imagine living with a man for 30 plus years who wouldn't eat lamb. It's probably my favourite meat. Looking forward to lamb shanks tonight. Although I have adapted. The man I have lived with for - OMG, 37 years! - doesn't really like anything green, apart from peas.
    As for a memorable Valentine present, I can't recall any. If he buys me anything it's usually a book. This week we've both been poorly with particularly virulent colds, and neither of us even gave a card!

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  9. And they say "romance is dead". Clearly they know nothing...

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