{"id":8753,"date":"2026-02-13T10:16:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=8753"},"modified":"2026-02-13T10:16:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:16:02","slug":"i-was-volunteering-on-valentines-day-when-i-saw-my-first-loves-name-on-the-list-so-i-delivered-his-card-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=8753","title":{"rendered":"I Was Volunteering on Valentine\u2019s Day When I Saw My First Love\u2019s Name on the List \u2013 So I Delivered His Card Myself"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"120\"><strong data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"120\">Valentine\u2019s Day Surprise: I Volunteered at a Nursing Home and Found My First Love\u2014And My Son\u2019s Father\u2014After 40 Years<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"122\" data-end=\"365\">At 64, I signed up to write Valentine\u2019s cards for lonely seniors, thinking it would be simple. But when I saw one name on the list\u2014Richard\u2014I froze. He was my first love, the man who disappeared decades ago, leaving me to raise our child alone.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"367\" data-end=\"607\">Curiosity and courage led me to deliver his card myself. When we met, old truths surfaced, and I finally learned why he vanished. With my son by my side, I returned to confront the past and reveal the secret I\u2019d carried for nearly 40 years.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"609\" data-end=\"795\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">What followed was emotional, healing, and life-changing\u2014for all of us. Sometimes, volunteering doesn\u2019t just help others\u2026 it helps you find closure, forgiveness, and your own voice again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Valentine\u2019s Day Surprise: I Volunteered at a Nursing Home and Found My First Love\u2014And My Son\u2019s Father\u2014After 40 Years At 64, I signed up to <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=8753\" title=\"I Was Volunteering on Valentine\u2019s Day When I Saw My First Love\u2019s Name on the List \u2013 So I Delivered His Card Myself\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8755,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8753\/revisions\/8755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}