Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but I haven’t yet shared how much I enjoyed it.
The morning was truly fulfilling. With camera, lights and action in my bedroom, “Precious Inspires” went live on YouTube featuring my sister-from-another-mom, Yvonne Chi Leina. We had a thoughtful, inspiring conversation about Cameroon and recent trends around domestic violence. It was a rich discussion full of insight—I’ll share the video later so you can watch the full talk.
Before that, I had “jeansed” my girls and myself (yes, I made up that word) — we all dressed in jeans. If you didn’t get it, it means we wore jeans. We were ready to go after the show.
Where to? I didn’t have a plan. I only knew I wanted to get out and have some fun.
After wrapping up the show and chatting with my grande sœur who was the guest that day, it was time to head out. My husband, however, wanted to nap. Since it was a day off, he needed a short sleep, so we waited for him to finish before we rolled out.
We ended up at the Mall of America. It’s a great spot to walk around, ride attractions and — most importantly for me that day — eat Chinese food. My niece-in-law-turned-sister, Natacha, had planted the idea. The first time I visited the Mall, I stuck to what I knew—burger and fries. When I told Nata that I hadn’t tried the Chinese food there, she was shocked: “What? You didn’t eat Chinese? How can you go to the Mall and not eat Chinese?” So this time my taste buds were determined to try it.
The moment we walked in, I hunted for a Chinese restaurant and we found one. The menu confused me, but I ordered California rolls while my husband picked a crunchy-sounding dish whose name was too long to remember.
You should have seen me struggle with chopsticks—I was awful. Still, one thing no one could take away from me: I had eaten Chinese that day.
One vivid memory from the Mall was a visit to a doll shop. A mother and daughter sat waiting while a staff member styled the doll’s hair. The doll wore an apron, the stylist sprayed its hair with a fancy-looking hairspray and began brushing. It struck me as surreal—dolls receiving more pampering than some real children get in other parts of the world.
We left the Mall, went home and wrapped up the day.
As I write this, I’ve already settled disagreements among the four kids I’m mothering and cleaned up a spill of tea. That’s multitasking for you.
How about you? How did your Valentine’s Day go?