Valentine's Day

The cynics out there refer to Valentine’s Day as a “Hallmark Holiday” – created and promoted solely for the purpose of doubling the cost of a dozen red roses, running lots of jewelry store ads on TV, and selling massive amounts of chocolate, generic greeting cards, and teddy bears. I, personally, prefer to think of Valentine’s Day as a reminder to all of us to appreciate – and communicate – our love to our spouses, family and friends.

Grocery Store man today definitely was a bit on the anti-Valentine’s Day front. When checking out at the store this afternoon, he even said to me with a voice dripping in disdain and sarcasm, “Happy Hallmark Holiday. Doin’ anything fun to celebrate?”

Without really thinking about my answer, I immediately responded (all cheery and voice filled with roses, rainbows, sunshine and chocolate), “Actually, we’ve had a great weekend! But we don’t just celebrate Valentine’s Day TODAY; we celebrate it EVERYday.” I’m fairly certain that the look on Store Employee’s face said: I would rather spork out my eyeballs than have to hear any more of this. It was just a courtesy question, lady. I wasn’t actually looking for details. Please, stop. Please!

Based upon this LOOK, I chose not to go into detail. I decided not to share how I had surprised Mike by lining up a babysitter so we could go to the “Marriage Mass” at our parish and renew our wedding vows followed by a wine and cheese reception which we then followed with our own romantic, candlelit dinner at an actual NON-kid friendly restaurant!! (Like there wasn’t even a crayon-friendly paper tablecloth. It was actually made of linen). Then, this morning, we woke up to the kids waving home-made Valentine’s cards in our faces and, as usual, begging for breakfast. (Let’s face it, it IS still a regular morning and they DO still wake up famished as if we never feed them…ever). We made heart(ish) shaped chocolate pancakes and spent the morning in PJ’s, cuddled up, reading and playing Lego’s. Now, THAT is what I call Valentine’s Day.

But, I chose NOT to share all of this with Grocery Store Man because a.) he obviously didn’t want to hear it, b.)um, OK, I don’t ACTUALLY need to tell everyone EVERYTHING, and c.) some people just don’t understand unity in marriage. Some people just don’t get what we – those involved in Engaged Encounter – get. Marriage can be work. It can be HARD work. But we CHOOSE to work on it. We know that love is a decision, and we invest time in our relationship so that we can experience true joy and unity. That’s something no Hallmark card – or a red-foil heart-shaped box of chocolates – could ever truly convey.

‘Til next time...
Lots of love and prayers,
Jenny & Mike Martin
Rich & Sue Stockinger