If I’m being honest, I wasn’t planning to do much of anything for Valentine’s Day this year. After fifteen years of marriage and three children, I’m more inclined to make the day all about the littles than I am to plan a big romantic night with my husband.
Oh, you’ll find me making heart shaped pancakes, designing handmade cards, and decking the kitchen in swaths of red, white and pink…but the whole idea of a big date night connected to Valentine’s Day just always feels a little overdone. I’m in the “yes, yes I know you love me and I love you but have you changed that lightbulb and taken out the trash yet honey?” camp more often than I like to admit.
But this week I got a wake up call. I got several of them, actually, all in rapid succession. Someone up there wanted to make sure I got this message loud and clear. I wish I hadn’t needed the reminder, but I did.
In the last seven days, I’ve crossed paths with:
- A terrified woman whose husband had abruptly left her
- An exhausted woman who has been sleeping on a hospital couch after her husband’s surgery
- A lovely, vivacious woman who was widowed way too early
- A 90 year old sweetheart of a lady who still misses her husband every single day
- A determined woman who is still looking for someone to love but hasn’t given up hope
- A devoted woman whose husband is stationed overseas serving in the military
All of these. In one week. I was humbled by each woman’s story and I can promise you that I was well aware of the message in them for me. It was obvious that any of them would sacrifice greatly for the opportunity to simply celebrate Valentine’s Day this year with the love of her life.
For those of us in happy, healthy relationships, it’s way too easy to take them for granted. 
We write off days like Valentine’s Day because they’ve become overly commercialized or because the restaurants are crowded or the chocolate and flowers thing has just been done to death. But when we do that, we’re missing what really matters.
What matters is that we have someone to love! That thing that every human being on the planet is looking for – we already have it. Valentine’s day is our chance to celebrate that.
We don’t even need roses or chocolate or champagne or an expensive dinner out to do it.
We just have to shift our focus from our long to do list and the endless kids’ activities long enough to lock eyes with that man and remember why we love him.
If, like me, you’re lucky enough to have someone you love who loves you back, then let’s make Valentine’s Day matter.
