The best Valentine's Date EVER!

One would think that me being without a Valentine for the first time in 6 yearswould put some amount of sadness in me when the day rolled around. It was quite the opposite however since I ended up with a group of Valentine's from ECSU and another from Lyon's Manor.

A group of us from PHP took a van to the Lyon's Manor which is a residential living area for people who can't quite make it on their own, whether it because of age or disability. Going into the night, I didn't know what to expect, but I knew that being with the people I was with, it would be nothing short of an amazing experience.

Sure enough, after arriving and spending a little time decorating, the residents of Lyon's Manor came into the room to enjoy some coffee and a snack. I struck up a conversation with a resident named Bob who clearly had a love for music; Green Day specifically. There were board games placed out on the tables and bubbles and paint. Most of the residents seemed uninterested in the activities, and I think a lot of it was out of unfamiliarity with young people being in their home. A few of them opened up and played a few games of UNO, chess, blew bubbles and ended up painting. It was wonderful to see smiles on the faces that looked so sad and desolate upon entering the room.

When one of the residents Larry kept saying how great it was that we came out and how much he was thankful for it, I said "you're welcome" but also "thank you for allowing us to be here and for making it such a fun time!" I didn't want any one of them to think that we were there out of pity or because we had to be, but rather that we truly wanted to be there.

When the night was winding down and it was time to go, all of the residents started thanking us again and I wanted to make it aware to them that we would be back, and that we were looking forward to doing so. Nathan, from PHP is going to organize trips there hopefully bi-weekly and in no time, we will be continuing to build the relationships that were started last night.

February 14, 2008- the best Valentine's Day I have ever had.