The reason for that bruise on my forehead

Remember those V8 television commercials?

Sometimes it was a female giving an open-handed slap to the forehead of her dim-witted male companion, or it was the mentally dense male slapping himself, followed by the slogan “You could have had a V8!”

A couple of years ago, I had my own “V8 moment.”

When Nikolas was in Arizona in 2008, my mother - aka Yia Yia (pronounced YEI yah), the Greek word for Grandmother - took him to a candle shop so he could make his own candle. In reality, all Nikolas did was choose from a group of preformed candles and dip his selection into pots of colored wax. So Nikolas picked candles for each of his grandmothers, one for his mother and one for his father.

For me, Nikolas chose a pair of penguins which he dipped the bottom half in blue wax and the top half in red wax. When the colors dried, they looked more deep purple and light pink.

When Nikolas gave me my gift, I excitedly thanked him, kissed and hugged him, and told him “I love it!” In all honesty, my first thought was, “Oh boy! Pink and purple penguins. Whoopee.”

After Nikolas went back to Indiana, I put that candle on a shelf in a back room and closed the door. Two months later, I went back to that room to look for something else I was keeping out of sight and it dawned on me what that candle represented.

The smaller penguin is standing at the side and slightly under the left wing of the larger penguin. The smaller penguin has its head up and a facial expression that shows comfort and safety.

The larger penguin, as I said, has its left wing on the back of the smaller penguin. Its head is tilted slightly down and toward the smaller penguin in a manner showing love and protection.

Why didn’t I see what Nikolas was telling me through this particular candle? I quickly figured out that the purple and pink was supposed to be blue and red – our favorite colors respectively. What I didn’t see was a little boy in his most special place – under the wing of his father.

I pray that my “V8-like” slap to my forehead will open my eyes to all the subtle ways Nikolas tells me that I am special to him.