The Day of Love

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

I haven't been able to blog as much as I would have liked this past week. I got swamped at work, and I rode the wave of a heavy work load until Friday afternoon. At that point, Andrew and I took off to go down and visit my family. We got to spend some time with my parents, and pop in on my best friend and her hubby. They are expecting in June, so it's a very exciting time for them. We also got to go to my handsome nephew's first birthday party. It was a whirlwind of balloons and family and pizza and cake and gifts. Sunday morning we got up and were headed home to go to church grocery shop and get organized for the week.

Last week I did a breakout session at a small conference for university and high school students at Huron College. The focus was Global Poverty. I hope to get a chance to share some of what I talked about with you. Perhaps a later post this week.

Today I want to talk about love. Kind of fitting as it's Valentines day after all!

I woke up this morning excited for a good day. I took extra time to look nice and came into work on a Monday morning with a smile on my face. Why? Because today is a day to be happy and thankful for all of the love in my life. Not just the love between myself and my amazingly handsome Fiance, but the love that I share with all of those important people in my life. I am thankful for a day to celebrate it!

For some people, Valentine's Day is a day to be reminded of their singleness. I had a few friends that used to call today Vomit Day because all Valentine's Day did was rub in how alone they were. The years that I was single on this day, I didn't feel that way. Sometimes it was more difficult to get through the day, but I always did enjoy a day to be thankful and to eat chocolate (What girl would deny a holiday surrounding chocolate?) I was talking to a friend today that is single and she said she loves Valentines day because it's a celebration of all kinds of love, especially God's love. I like her perspective a lot.

To me it seems like Valentine's Day has been turned into a commercial, money spending celebration and sometimes I think that all of the celebrating and gifts and gestures are simply hollow. There is too much pressure to find the right gift for the one you love and to plan the perfect outing and not enough pressure to show love all year round. I read online that the average person would spend over $100 on Valentines day. That seems so silly to me. I simply want to spend the day appreciating all the little everyday things that come along with having loved ones.

This is why Andrew and I aren't doing anything different today. I got up and went to work and Andrew called me in the morning like he does daily. He put a smile on my face and back to work we both went. Tonight will be like any other Monday Night. He will come over before small group and we will go together. Tonight is a little special because the men in our small group are making dinner for all of us when we get there, which is a nice treat that I am looking forward to. I also look forward to the great discussion with a great group of people.

Just another Monday with a few extra special touches. :)

Something that Andrew and I do for every occasion is we exchange cards or letters. I find that I look forward to this the most. He is the best writer and these words remind me of what is really important! I have a stack of all the cards and letters we have exchanged over the course of our relationship and I like to go back and re-read them occasionally. For me, words mean so much more than a fancy dinner and flowers. Besides, flowers are so much more fun to receive at other random times of the year.

Some people say that they don't need to do anything extravagant for V-day because they celebrate their love every other day of the year. I kind of agree with these people, but I do view Valentines day as a fun day to eat reasonable amounts of chocolate, to adore the flowers that are in the grocery stores and to hold on to those you love a little tighter and to tell them how much they mean to you.

What about you? What are YOU doing to celebrate (or boycott) today? Is there someone who you need to tell that you appreciate today?