Celebrating Love

Valentine's Day.

I've never understood why so many people hate it, why so many people sneer and scoff and proudly declare that they don't celebrate it, with the same disdain that might tinge their voice when telling someone they no longer believe in the tooth fairy. As if Valentine's Day is something contrived, something fake, something that children are conned into but that adults figure out as they age.

Yesterday was baby girl's second Valentine's Day. I'll admit I wasn't able to dwell on the holiday as much as I did last year--something about a baby growing inside me and a laundry list of new responsibilities to tackle keeps me amazingly preoccupied these days. Somehow the day snuck up on me, one of those "oh yeah, it's still a whiles off" and then allofasudden "holy shit guess what today is??" kind of things. But even so, even with all the other things we have going on, all the other things we have to spend our money on, all the other responsibilities we have on our time, even then we made sure to make it a special day.

Actually, it's because of those things that we made sure to make it a special day.

Valentine's doesn't have to be about showy displays of wealth or insincere levels of affection. Think it's a Hallmark holiday? Don't buy a card. Make one. Write a love letter. Send a romantic text or goofy e-card. Don't want to go through the hassle of reservations for dinner and fighting crowds? Dig into the back of your pantry and make a special meal. Hell, make a pizza and eat it by candle light. (For YEARS my husband and I ate Taco Bell by candle light every Valentine's day to remember and honor the way we did it for our very first one.) The point is, it doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be fake. It just has to be sincere. Affectionate. Focused. Dedicated.

All too often life pulls us in every direction but together. Adults--and especially parents--have a million trillion demands on their time. Sure we should love and appreciate our spouses and partners every day of the year. And we do. But the reality is that we don't always have the time or attention or opportunity or energy to make our spouse, our partner, feel that love and appreciation. What a wonderful holiday Valentine's is, to remind us for just one day to stop with the maddening rush of life and pay homage to the thing that makes our lives special in the first place--love.

My husband and I love Valentine's Day, and we can't wait to celebrate Valentine's Day with our kids. To wake them up in the morning with kisses and let them eat breakfasts of chocolate and candy on heart-shaped construction paper place mats. To let them see all the mushy, special, romantic things that we do for each other. To teach them that love is to be celebrated and honored and remembered above and beyond what the normal pace of life typically allows for.

And I hope they never outgrow it.