My husband hates Valentine's Day. He hates feeling manipulated into showing his love for me, or anyone else for that matter. He feels, and rightly so, that it's more important to show his love through his actions throughout the year, rather than spend a lot of time and effort once a year. As a couple, we have had some very memorable Valentine's Days. There is the year of the ice scraper, the year the car got broken into and my gift stolen, the year he forgot Valentine's and one of my favorites, the year we spent Valentine's Day in San Francisco, with the kids at home. Needless to say, it's kind of been hit-and-miss. We have a loose understanding.... the thing I want most from him is his time; with him gone as much as he is, spending an evening alone, uninterrupted is about as blissful as it gets. We generally get one of the grandparents to babysit and try to do dinner, and maybe a movie, but today was different.
The day started with our traditional Valentine activities. The kids awoke to a card, a shirt and a gift from Mom and Dad.... Mom bought it and Dad paid for it. Anyway, I gave Matt the card I bought him and a giant Hershey's kiss. After we got the kids, and their various Valentine boxes off to school, Matt and I headed to the mall. We put young Will in the stroller and joined the elderly mall walkers around the perimeter of Fashion Place. We came away with some fancy shampoo, some unmentionables for the 10-year-old and that was basically it. We checked out the new bathrooms to change the baby's diaper and decided that we are too old to be hanging around the mall. I know this sounds like all kinds of fun, but it actually was. People-watching has become something of a hobby and there is no small shortage of people to watch at the mall. Add to this that I had Matt's mostly undivided attention, and the mall was a hit! We talked, and laughed, and stopped for a Diet Coke at the end; pretty much the perfect morning.
We picked Jack up from preschool and then went to lunch. It was soooo fun. The food was cheesy and fattening, but the best part was listening to Jack tell us his stories about Salt & Pepper and the well. He swears it's a story he heard at preschool, but it made very little sense.... and it was VERY LONG. But it is so fun to watch him become a little conversationalist. He cracks me up.
After lunch we headed home and Matt helped Jack play Lego Indiana Jones while Will and I had a wonderful afternoon nap. Oh my heck.... can I just say it was heavenly?
Now onto the final event of the evening. Every year, I think that I am going to try and be "that Mom"... the one who decorates for dinner and makes something awesome that makes her husband and kids think she's a rockstar. This year was the year! After school, I headed out on my holiday rounds. A stop at the dollar store netted some cheap plastic goods and candles, and then I headed to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for dinner. In between shuttling kids to piano lessons, letting the dog in and out and feeding the baby, I made an awesome dinner for my family.... not fancy, but awesome, nonetheless. The table was decorated with candles and we actually had an appetizer for dinner. We had a Valentine's Day soundtrack with all sorts of fun music and we rounded out the dinner, eating by candlelight, with a cherry cheesecake.
I think the best part of the night was when I looked over at my Valentine's Day-hating husband, and he had a huge smile on his face. My hubby, who hates all of the sappy things about today, declared that this activity should become a family tradition. There was no pressure and everybody in attendance "felt the love". Jack kept telling me that I was "so romantic" and the girls were amazed that we did something so fun. Allie was a little nervous about the candles falling over, and Will seemed to be a little jealous of the yummies we were eating, but I have to say that I really enjoyed myself tonight, dirty dishes and all. After I sent the kids up to get in the bathtub, I sat back and surveyed the table in all of it's reckless abandon, and I got a tear in my eye. I love my family; my kids are great and my husband is awesome. He knows how to make me feel loved in all the right ways and he works really hard to take care of us. I am so grateful that I have him in my life to love.
Happy Hearts Day, and may you carry the spirit of this day with you throughout the year.
2 comments:
my husband and your husband must be brothers. I get home last night, where davids states that we aren't going to celebrate v-day because it is just a made up holiday. I told him it is too bad for you cause you are going to have to pretend to celebrate it with me every year!
Why can't Heather be asking the question NOW? Everyone would be going "awwwwww", me included. Good job, Bekster! Nothing like impressing the minions, not to mention, Matt!
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