Valentine's Day

I guess I couldn't let the day go by without a post. It has been a good day. I spent it with Max.

We took off about noon for parts unknown and traveled through a good portion of eastern Nebraska. The sun was supposed to be shining, but for the most part we had haze and cloudy skies. Not much fun for a photographer. And the poor man nearly froze his tootsies off. He had doubled his socks - one pair was woolen! He got back in the Jeep and was miserable. He pulled his boots off and jammed his feet up near the vents. They finally warmed up.

But, we always enjoy being together so the day wasn't a total loss.

I commented on a young man's status on Facebook the other day. He was making fun of the corporate holiday that demands we find ways to say "I love you" on this day. There's been a lot of that going around this year. And then there's always "Single Awareness Day" or SAD. My comment to Max was that this young man really just needed to learn to let it go and get the card or the flower or the chocolate for his girlfriend. It's so much easier.

When I said that to the kid, he responded by telling me that this shouldn't just happen one day of the year. Well, of course not! But, neither should celebrating Jesus' birth or the resurrection. Or the life of Martin Luther King or the independence of our country. It's good to have a day that we actually remember to express our love in ways outside the norm. And it doesn't hurt that a few flowershops will actually make enough money on this day to help them get through tough months without a lot of sales.

I was reading Beth Moore's blog today and there were so many wonderful stories from her readers about their memories of Valentine's Day. Some were painful, some were so sweet I wanted to weep, some were hilarious. But, in all of these, the expressions of love were so important. And we forget that. We even forget to say "I love you" on a regular basis.

Today I'm thankful for a husband who doesn't forget Valentine's Day, but is sensitive enough to my needs and desires to interpret what I want. He knows I don't want 'stuff' from him. It was fun getting flowers last year when I was in an office and everyone around me could see them, but this year that wasn't important.

But, yesterday when he came home with lunch AND supper, he also brought me a bar of Ghiradelli chocolate. He knows what I love. It didn't cost much, but it let me know that he was thinking about me even when he wasn't with me.

Valentine's Day? Sweethearts get to have their day. A day to remember how to say "I love you."