What does Valentine's Day mean to you?

As a single young man, through much of my twenties, Valentine's Day was nothing but a commercial holiday made up so Hallmark and candy companies can get some early sales each year. I had a few relationships through my twenties, only two I'd consider "serious", and V-day didn't occur during either of them. I can only guess that my outlook of the day may have been a bit different had I shared it with someone.

Almost ten years after my first serious relationship was starting, I'm approaching my two-year anniversary with my wife Kacy. While I retain some of the same feelings about Valentine's Day in general, I definitely see how it changes when you have someone in your life and you want to use the day to show them how you feel about them every day of the year.

Our first Valentine's Day together was in 2005 and we went to Disneyland, which I consider to be one of our best trips and times together other than our Maui honeymoon. We were still pretty early into our relationship, about 2 or 3 months since Christmas time was really when we started feeling like it was going somewhere. Just to start the trip off right, I made arrangements to have a vase of tulips on the table in our hotel room when we arrived, being that they are her favorite. We had a great time, spending time at both Disneyland and California adventure. Throughout the whole trip, I think we both felt like we saw a future building and it really had nothing to do with the fact that it was a Valentine's Day trip.

Kacy and I just sort of "get along" without much effort at all. Even when we're arguing, it's more like playful banter because it's really sarcastic and overdone. We get a good laugh when Kacy's mom is around because we start going at it over something silly and her mom feels the need to mediate and "break it up" and we always have to calm her down and remind her that we're really just playing.

This Valentine's Day is very special because it's the first for our son Gavin who was born last June. We knew early on that we both wanted kids and he came a little earlier than we had planned but there was never a moment of "oh crap, now what do we do?" I recall the moment I found out she was pregnant because I was going to vote in November. You can read all about that in a previous post "Gavin Wade Arrives."

As I write this post, I look forward to many more years celebrating that first Valentine's Day that I shared with Kacy and this year with Gavin.

To those of you reading this, I'd love to hear what Valentine's Day means to you and hope you'll share any V-day stories you have.

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