be my valentine

Sometimes I get crazy, fun, creative ideas and halfway through, wonder if it’s really worth the effort? Creating a birthday video for Ben felt like one of my insane projects– would he really care?

But this time it was worth every bit of effort.

Ben’s letter this morning:

That was the coolest video ever!!
I just want to watch it over and over and over.

and later in his letter

The video! did i tell you how amazing it was? Mom has made some good videos but this one has got to be the best. Oh it was soooo cool.

and again

Oh I just went back and watched the video again. I just had to. I don’t know if I can watch it again though otherwise I just might start crying tears of joy.

Do you guys know how much I love you? Maybe I’ll just write you my own little valentine: you are everything to me. You seven people are my whole world and if there was nothing but the eight of us in an empty universe I be happy just to be there with you. You lift me up, you make me better, you don’t let me give up and you don’t let me fall short. I can hardly recount the number of times when I’ve just felt too tired or not good enough to keep going but the thought of you has kept me going. Lately I keep going back and watching the London video. There’s a part where the bike racers go by and everybody is cheering. I can hear dad yelling really loud and I like to imagine you guys yelling for me. I’m yelling for you too.
I’m sprinting to the finish like dad keeps telling me and it’s hard, but I can do it. Especially with the great videos I’ve been getting.

Well I love you so much. will you all be my valentines?

and finally…

I’m off to go watch my video again.
love, Ben

You probably won’t love it as much as Ben, and I left empty seconds at the end for two SPECTACULAR scenes we are filming on Ben’s actual birthday (a few confetti shots may disappear too). Yes, I shouldn’t share it before it’s done, but Valentine’s videos are better before Valentine’s. Kind of the way candy hearts must make way for Cadbury eggs on Feb. 15th.

Oh wait, one more disclaimer— Mary appears far more than anyone else. After some rebellion during the Christmas video, I didn’t want to force anyone to participate. But after they saw how much fun we were having, everyone willingly jumped in.

last thing– many thanks to Annie Waddoups for the song suggestion; I would have never found it without your help, Annie.