Heck of A Good Valentine's Day

Not only a heck of a good Valentine's Day, I think that this year may have been the best one yet.  And I only had to wait 41 years for it.  But it was well worth it.

In my teenage years, Valentine's was just another day.  When I got engaged and  married the first time, it usually was a day preceded by arguments and no matter what the plans were, there was an underlying feeling of disappointment.  Then I became divorced and single again and Valentine's became the dreaded holiday; the one where everyone else received flowers at work and had great plans and mine involved just ignoring it and making it through.  I developed a bitterness of sort towards it but once I. married V., we acknowledged it but didn't turn it into a real big deal, more of a nod.  A nod involving us getting cards for one another and V. getting me flowers, which I have to admit I enjoyed a lot.

This year I.'s school celebrated Father's Day on Valentine's Day since they will be out of school for Father's Day.  V. and I showed up at 11:30 and enjoyed a touching singing program by the kids followed by a box lunch that he and I. shared.  Then there was time afterwards he and I. to play together on the playground which was a real treat.  For dinner, I reserved a special dinner that I only had to pick up and reheat so after the kids went to bed we enjoyed a wonderful candlelight dinner with wine from our honeymoon days and sharing of cards from one another as well as a bunch from I.  And V. brought me some really nice flowers too.

It was funny to look back at my expectations of Valentine's past and the disappointment it usually led to.  This year I had no expectations and watching I. and V. play together happily as I held our baby boy gave me the best feelings of joy, contentedness, and love.  These feelings spilled over into excitement that I had a nice dinner arranged at home for us and that V. was going to be home to share it.

Is my life perfect?  No, I wish V. had a more "normal" job where he left at 7 in the morning, got home close to 5 every night, had less travel, and didn't have work on the weekends that made him get up at 5am.  That being said, my life is great, really doggone great right now.  I may not feel like that initially at 4am when some days I'm woken up from a deep sleep to start the day, but by 6:30 after nursing and a lot of snuggling, I'm back there.  I never thought I'd feel like this, maybe happy yes, but this is several steps beyond happy and I count myself really really lucky.