Valentine's Day

What is that you say?  You don't care about Valentine's Day any more?  ...  Well, I'm going to tell you a story anyway.  So there.

I got home from church on Sunday just a few minutes behind the rest of the family.  Immediately Tank walked up to me with his hands full of conversation hearts and said, "Here, Mom.  For you."

Imagine the cutest 5-year-old you know, who already melts your heart, coming up to you with conversation hearts.  I was a puddle on the floor.  And I don't even LIKE conversation hearts!

So anyway, there I was, a puddle, and Tank was beaming as I said, "Awww."  Then I read the first conversation heart that I saw.  This is what Tank heard:  "You are bad."

His face fell and he looked like he would start crying any minute now.  I could just imagine what was going through his head.  "I brought my mom candy shaped like hearts and she tells me I'm bad?"  I quickly tried to do damage control.  "No!  No!  That's what the heart says!  You're not bad.  The heart says 'U R BAD.'"  He obviously didn't believe me.  Why would a heart say that? 

Fortunately Tank can read a little, so I pointed out the heart and had him read it with me.  He felt better after he knew I wasn't lying to him.  Still, the magic of the moment was lost and I felt pretty bad that I'd hurt his feelings.

Why would a conversation heart say that anyway?  "U R BAD."  What a lame thing to say!  Rob said:  "It's a compliment, you know?  'You're bad.'  Like 'you're cool.'" 

Clearly the Conversation Heart Idea Guys didn't run that idea past their 5-year-old sons.