Reflections on Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day can bring thoughts of horror to the male species and about the same with the females. Why is that? I think we put far too much pressure on ourselves and those we care deeply for and perhaps even are in love with to prove our feelings or outdo the previous year.

Love isn’t the big showy gifts that are above your budget but think you have to buy him/her. Love, for me, is a beautiful card that was bought because of the words not the appearance; a rub on the back of my neck when standing in line at the grocery store; a foot massage every evening while watching TV; having a beautiful breakfast of blueberry french toast being prepared (like right now).

It is all the silly things we say to each other every day (without fail); the continuous flirting with each other so much our kids tease us. Inside, I think they are happy for us to be this way. I cry big, wet tears at the sound of a National Anthem, not only ours, everyone’s from all around the world. It conjures up such pride for them that it has always caught me off guard.

It might be the ‘french’ way of spelling in a crossword puzzle, or how tickled I get when my husband speaks French (it isn’t often enough, for me) and he gets laughing. He has the voice of an angel and when we first were dating we talked literally for hours on end.

It can be when he walks into a room…my heart skips a beat each and every time…still! Love doesn’t have to be complicated, just honest.

Love should be shared each and every day….it can’t ever be given the excuse “I can’t, I’m busy” or “not now, I am working”. We have no guarantee that there will be a tomorrow for any of us. With that thought in mind, why would anyone ever consider wasting that brief second or moment it takes to let the one person in your life know that you care?

We have never left the house without saying I love you to the person staying home, nor has my husband ever gone to work (downstairs in his office or in his workshop) without a kiss, saying a silly “drive carefully, no fingers, no bad words and no speeding”. Silly? you bet. Sounds dumb to you? Absolutely. Important to both of us? Without a second of doubt.

Each day, in our lives together, is a perfect gift. A 23  1/2 year gift to me. My husband has been ill all those years and it is a gift for me, that we can still share each other’s life. We have been together 25 years and I thank God every day for this life of mine.

There isn’t enough money in the world to make me consider anything else.I am not saying we don’t sometimes think murder….but never divorce and it only lasts a moment or two. My Dad said that at their  50th  Anniversary “murder sometimes, divorce never”.

So, don’t think the flowers have to be big, the candy bigger and dinner off the wall price-wise. Tonight my beloved husband is preparing dinner for us. I don’t know all, but I do know it is made up of my favourite foods.

Simple happenings? Of course, Lovingly given and prepared? Without a doubt.

To my husband and our blended family of kids and grandkids….Happy Valentine’s Day and don’t think for a moment that we don’t think of you all daily.