This Day of Love

Today is Valentine's Day.  A day to show your adoration to the one you love. A day to send bouquets of roses to your special someone.  A day to proclaim your undying affection for your significant other.  A day of hearts, flowers, chocolate, cards and such.  A day of overcommercialized hype!

Boyet and I both believe that you should be showing your partner unconditional love all 365 days out of the year, not just this one day.  If you aren't doing such, then grand gestures today will not fix what ails your relationship.  One day of overpriced items cannot correct a year of not showing your love.  So, on this day of love we would like to break the spell of the overrated, overpriced, red and pink trinkets that retailers would like to cast upon you.  We would like to replace it with everyday ideas to fill your entire year with small gestures that make love that magical emotion that makes our hearts flutter.

• A bouquet of roses does not express the depth and breadth of your love. What is so loving and caring about watching roses slowly wither and die a premature death because they were sliced from their natural environment before they could realize their truest beauty?  Instead, take a trip to the arboretum together when they are all in bloom to appreciate their grandeur and aroma.  I will always cherish the memory of the fun and laughter on the day we took a trip to one of our local gardens. I captured this priceless moment when my darling husband posed for this adorable picture of this white beauty while leaving it in its nature habitat.

• Your sweets do not need costumes to explain to your Sweety that they are your Sweetheart. It's almost tragic that those big, pink, frilly, heart shaped boxes contain those Forest Gump mixtures.  Chocolate is such an amazing creation, it doesn't deserve the confusion and the cartoon representation provided by those mass produced atrocities. Just share a Hershey's bar while watching a movie or a hot fudge sundae on Saturday afternoon.  Stop by a local chocolatier for a fresh sampling of the glorious richness that only chocolate can provide.

• A candlelit dinner of rich cuisine and fine wine at a restaurant will leave your tummy too full, your wallet too empty and your libido sinking. On Valentine's Day, restaurants are over-crowded with others who can't figure out that they open most other days of the year.  Instead, spend your money on quality ingredients for a fabulous dinner at home.  Bring out the good china, create a romantic tablescape with candles, enjoy lighter portions for dinner, skip the wine and share a single serving of a fabulous dessert. Your budget will sigh with relief and the stress free, intimate environment and lighter portions will leave you feeling much more amorous.  You could also try dining in reverse. Start with dessert and end with the salad.  This year, my sister surprised us with a decadent marble cake drizzled with chocolate which we ate for breakfast and we'll enjoy a lovely dinner at home tonight. 

• Let's talk greeting cards.  There are beautiful cards with well written words that express our deepest emotions during times of celebration and sorrow. However, there are so many more ways of personally expressing our emotions.  Write a heart felt letter in your own handwriting (no matter how awful it is) or create a poem for your beloved (even if it's bad).  For those that have no creativity or linguistic flare, thousands of fantastic love poems exist as they have been written for ages.  Take the time to find one that you can relate to, transcribe it onto fancy stationary or a blank card.  Someday you will be able to share these fanciful words with your grandchildren. A personal creation is something that will be treasured for a lifetime or longer.


So escape the commercialism of Valentine's Day, learn to take care of your someone special every day. It's these little treasures that change a love story into a fairy tale romance and when you're living a fairy tale you don't need red and pink trinkets.  So I say to my Valentine, thank you for making every day magical for me. Thank you for supporting me when I am feeling down.  Thank you for keeping the faith when I falter. Thank you for making me feel like a princess writing a fabled story that will live for ages.