Hi Everyone,
February 14th, a day set aside each year to celebrate romance. For over forty years I have been lucky and grateful to celebrate Valentine’s Day with my husband, the man of my dreams. But I don’t have to tell ya, it hasn’t always been roses and chocolates. Cupid’s missed the mark on more than one Valentine’s Day.
Here are just a few I remember. There was the year that we decided to venture out to a very popular restaurant. We’d made reservations well in advance, because, you know, it’s Valentine’s Day. When we arrived at the restaurant we were told we’d have a bit of a wait. An hour and a half later we were informed that they were so sorry but due to an error, they couldn’t seat us until 11:00 p.m. We left, went to Kroger, picked up a couple of steaks, stopped at the liquor store for a bottle of wine, prepared our meager meal and ate at the kitchen table. Or the year both kids had strep throat. We spent the entire evening running from room to room, dispensing amoxicillin, ginger ale, popsicles, and Tylenol. Not to mention the added Valentine’s fun of sanitizing their bathroom. ‘See where romance has gotten us’ I remember telling my husband. Or the Valentine’s Day that we came home after both of us had a particularly bad day at work. We had completely forgotten to get one another even a card and we promised each other that we would defer celebrating until the following year. I don’t remember now if we even did that.
I know that I’m not the only person who has had similar Valentine’s Day debacles. When we were first married, there was a lightness and carefree feeling surrounding Valentine’s Day. We were young, we were in love, that seemed enough. As the years went by, V-day morphed into something that seemed more of an effort. What do we do this year? Chocolates or flowers? Dinner out or a candlelit dinner at home? Or do we just forget about it. Oh my gosh, had we become that old married couple that we used to make fun of? Maybe, but we’d also become that couple that could finish each other sentences, read each others thoughts with just a glance, laugh at each others screw ups, share the pure joy at the sight of our grandchildren, and know instinctively when a hug was needed. We hadn’t lost celebrating Valentine’s Day, we truly have celebrated it in our hearts every day we’ve been together. Through good days and bad, our love is stronger than ever. And I’m so very thankful. Oh, and if my hubby should read this, I wouldn’t mind flowers this year. Due to the pandemic I probably need to skip the box of chocolates.
Happy Valentine’s Day! May your day be filled with joy, spending it with those you love!
