Valentine's

I like to celebrate Valentine's Day.  I realize it's pretty much a commercial holiday that supplies Hallmark with another floor set for the year.  But I like it.  Going out for dinner or breakfast or doing small gifts or simply acknowledging the holiday is how I like to do.

When Tim and I were first dating, Tim didn't do Valentine's Day.  For, of course, the reasons mentioned above.  I was aware of the pro-valentine's/anti-valentine's crowds before I started dating Tim, so this wasn't some earth-shattering realization.  But we did face a sort of difference of expectation dilemma after our first totally botched February 14th.

A few years of dating, over a year of marriage under our belts, and a lot of talk on love languages, we celebrate Valentine's.  Usually nothing extravagant.  (My birthday is one week after the holiday.)  But we make the day a little more special than most.

This year we're going out.  Tim arranged for a babysitter and planned a little something.  And I won't find out what we're doing until we pull away from our babysitter's house.  A surprise.

Though we've had our fair share of failed attempts in planning a good Valentine's, I couldn't be happier and more proud to have the Valentine that I do.  We've learned together, we've grown together, and we've changed together.

And at the end of the day that's really what it's about, right?  The person sitting across the dinner table from you.