Those Gaggy Valentines are Back

So today is the big day. A miserable day when I was single but now that I'm married it's just another day - an excuse for chocolate. I'm so happy that this is the last year my 6th grade son will have to buy and address those cheap tear and fold Valentines for his class. My students as well as my husband shopped at the 99 cent store for me this year. I considered buying my husband a valentine at one of these dollar stores and was horrified with what I found. The covers were cute but I would turn the page to find some truly not only "gaggy" but untrue statements. One card had a cute teddy bear but the inside read, "You are my world!", not, "you make my world" or "enhance my world", or "glad you're in my world." I consider myself a whole person. My husband and I at our wedding did the traditional lighting one candle with both of our candles, yet we kept our individual candles still burning. So you see nothing is my whole world, not my faith, my job, my children, my husband, or my friends. My world is made up of all these things and more for which I am thankful, but none of these by themselves is "my world." Other cards had beautiful words and pictures on the cover but again the insides read, "You fulfill all my dreams", or "my life didn't begin until you". I wondered if it were the cheap store I was at. Were Hallmark cards more truthful? My favorite Valentine my husband ever bought me, though he's gotten so many of those glossy 7-11 ones over the years, was one with a heart shaped ditch which was being dug out and it said something like "our love is a work in process but with you it's worth the work."

Let me tell you about one of my favorite Valentine's Day. My family went out for an early Valentine's dinner (We had money then.) Afterwards I went out for coffee with some of my single friends and I got them each a pretty bag of chocolates. Driving home I found myself upset that Valentine's day had hit on a Thursday-Trash Night and I dreaded taking the trash out. I got home and found it already out. My son had helped his Dad take out the trash. I was ecstatic, at that moment this simple act was the greatest Valentine's gift and from that year on I never had to take out the trash.

So call me an easy, cheap date, but little acts of love bring Valentine's Day to me all year long.

So how do you feel about Valentine's Day. Is it "Ba Hum Lady Bug" day or a day you truly treasure along with all the heart and chocolate wrappings? What have been your favorite Valentine's cards or gifts?