It is just one more day that allows us to make a celebration of the love we have and hold for one another.
For my kids, it means showing them I love them in deed; in sugary sweet, red/pink/white, handmade, homespun, heart-shaped deeds. For my husband, it means loving him with kisses and held hands and a love note in a card. We do love our notes. It also means being patient when he has to take work calls until 9 pm, because it would simply be unromantic to give him grief on love day of all days ;). For me, it means remembering all the things I love about Jake, and remembering while eating bakery cupcakes (which are my favorite) and reading love notes comes very easily, as it turns out.
Love Day for me also means getting to help my kids make Valentines for every one of their 23 sweethearts in class. It means having their eager help with baking a heart-shaped red velvet cake the night before and then seeing their faces full of delight when it was waiting for them on the table, decorated and complete, the next morning. It means watching their pleasure as they drink pink milk with breakfast (which is just regular milk, in Bella’s case almond milk, with a dash of strawberry syrup). It means parading through the dollar store with them while they pick out just the perfect treats and trinkets and toys with the money their grandma’s gave them (e.g. Bella picked a Valentine’s wine class, Gabe wanted a water bottle for basketball, Ari got a light up koosh ball – to mention just a few). It also means getting to experience one of their firsts; a school-day Valentine’s Day party, with friends dressed in red, sugar-amped laughter, craft stations, and my twins who just could not have been any happier to see Bella, Liam, and me appear in their classrooms.
This candy-coated holiday, throughout my lifetime, has gone from very important to less important to very important once again. But then again, everything’s that way when I get to see it anew through my little ones’ eyes. Even Valentine’s.
