This is not about five year old Emily and her first friend although the photo does document how long we have been handing out chocolate chip cookies. That is a cookie love story for another day.
On Valentine's Day, Emily and her friends went to an orphanage to volunteer. The 18 year old daughter of an American family in the ward has been spending her own time and money on service while she lives in Peru. The orphanage has been one of her projects and she invited other kids in the ward to help last Friday.
I had seen the photos that day on Facebook of flowers and candy and jewelry and cupcakes and stuffed animals and who knows what else exchanged on Valentine's Day. I also saw the mention of celebrating or sorrowing over Single Awareness Day. So when Emily told me about her day I thought about how ungrateful we are when we take what we have for granted. While Emily was at the orphanage a little girl wrapped her arms around Emily's leg. Emily picked her up gave her a hug and asked her if she wanted to get down to play. The little girl said no and that she just wanted a hug. So Emily held her for an hour. Some people expect to have a valentine. Some demand a gift from the valentine. Some don't get either. Not even close.
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