February 14th - Love Is In The Air... and Other Valentine's Musings

Ahhhh, yes. Valentine's Day. To this day I find Valentine's Day perplexing. Perhaps it was those bitter years of pining for that special someone to spend the day with. You know those years (and if you don't, I don't want to hear about it). The junior/high school years where you watched the mushy couples drooling over each other while you yearned for that special one, the one you crushed on silently, to magically approach you and declare his/her undying love for you a la Sixteen Candles. {{{Big Sigh}}} Maybe that's what makes me want to love Valentine's Day unrequitedly and I just don't.

Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled when I finally had that special someone to celebrate Valentine's Day with and I am happy to report I still have him 20+ years later. We went through the dating V-Day rituals - dinner, heart shaped boxes of chocolates, dozen red roses. Then we went through the "oh heck it's Valentine's Day again what am I going to do?" years. These years tainted me also. Forced romance? Blech. By this stage of our relationship give me an $8 bouquet of daisies in the middle of April and my heart is yours. Give me a $100 bouquet of hanging-on-for-dear-life roses just because it is February 14? Ridiculous, especially when the garbage disposal just stopped working and I'm pretty sure a mouse chewed through the cable line again.

But now we have settled into a groovy V Day place, one without ceremony or pressure. No cards usually, no dinner date on the 14th (that's a nightmare), a nice dinner cooked at home with a bottle of wine and a heart shaped Nestle crunch bar or two (my certain someone's favorites). I have had some amazing Valentine's Day moments over the years and they had nothing to do with crappy chocolate and overpriced flowers. "Someone" learned to play a song on the piano and wrote his own lyrics, wrote Haikus one year and a sonnet the other. Seriously? Hallmark has got nothing on this man.

And now, of course, we have a collective favorite valentine, the Spence-man. He reignited everything awesome about Valentine's Day. Stuffed monkeys holding hearts, decorated boxes for the quintessential school valentines exchange...

and my Spencer-inspired favorite tradition, heart shaped pancakes for breakfast...

which this year came out looking more like actual, anatomically correct hearts, but they were made with an extra special ingredient so it was ok. You know what that ingredient is, right? You got it...LOVE!

And our nice, family dinner with my two super cute Valentines. Perfect.

Maybe I finally have started to love Valentine's Day quite unrequitedly. What's not to love?

[And, in an effort to avoid more omission accusations, today was also my favorite sister-in-law's wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary, Linda & Ant!]