Valentine's Day.

Valentine’s Day.

2/14/2020

Valentine’s Day. It’s never been my favorite holiday.

My first job was at a Hallmark store. I learned within the first few months. Their biggest day. Our biggest day. February 14th. Balloons. Constantly rising. Cash register. Constantly digging. Cards. Constantly straightening.

I started. Much to the frustration of my friends. Calling it. “A Hallmark Holiday”.

It was said. I didn’t understand. I didn’t have a date. A gift. A boyfriend. If I did. Then! Then. I would understand. And not make that comment.

But. No one ever asked. Why. Why had I come to that conclusion?

The money. The rush. The extravagance. For one day. What about the other 364 days? What about those days? Didn’t those we love deserve to be shown the same amount of love and care and doting?

Today. Was the 20th Valentine’s Day I spent with my husband. And today was a perfect day.

I went on a long run.

He got some work done.

We went to the Shake Shack. The same meal we ate the day we got engaged.

We sat on the beach.

He read. I wrote.

I stood at the water’s edge. Misjudging the tide. My jeans got wet as he laughed and commented on how he saw that coming.

We sat in traffic. Conversation. No music.

Ran the kids around. These teenagers with their social lives. I say that smiling. Because I love being their mom. Watching them grow into themselves.

For us. For our family. So many of these! These. They are our life. The everydays.

The working. The running. The reading. The writing. The laughs. The beach. The traffic. The driving the kids around.

And though sometimes. I forget. To step back. And enjoy. These everydays. The special in the mundane.

Today. I remembered. That’s why today was perfect.