I remember as a teenager when Valentine’s Day approached, I would put extra effort into my appearance. You know, should a secret admire confess his love to me and request I be his Valentine; I better look good!
I remember my first Valentine’s Day with my husband, who at that time was my first Valentine (and boyfriend). I wore red lipstick, a hot outfit and sexy high heels. When he laid his eyes on me, the only thing he didn’t do was pop his eyes out of its sockets.
Fast forward 8 years. My last Valentine’s Day with my husband, I was 7 months pregnant… enough said. So basically we didn’t celebrate. I know married couples often make fun of Valentine’s Day. They say it’s a silly commercial holiday. It’s for those youngins that “believe” they’re in love, (but they’re really not).
Honestly my husband and I have never shared this view. We had some Valentine’s Days we were broke and couldn’t do much more than watch a late night movie together.
In fact, one of our first few Valentine’s Days was when we were international students in Australia. That day our school fees were due and that left us with $2 in our account. We went out and bought a single chocolate bar to share in celebration. It actually was pretty dang romantic!
Presently my husband and I still believe Valentine’s Day is a day we ought to celebrate the love we have. And you might ask why, but I would then ask, why not?!
So what if it’s commercialized?! So is Christmas, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that Jesus Christ was born. Valentine’s Day doesn’t diminish the fact that Jesiah and I have found love.
In fact we didn’t just find love, but we fought for love! We fought for love when we were just best friends that had a crush on each other and we were both being pursued by other people… awkward!
We fought for love when we were having marriage problems and attending counselling sessions. And we continue to fight for love every second of everyday when careers fight for our devotion above each other. When our exhaustion fights for our devotion above each other. When our kids fight for our devotion above each other… God bless ’em.
So I would say Valentine’s Day is not a worthless holiday. If you have any kind of love in your life- marriage, friendship, family… celebrate! Celebrate the work you’ve put into your relationships.
Celebrate that you’ve reconciled after silly disagreements. Celebrate that you put the effort into squeezing in time together with busy schedules! Celebrate that you’ve maintained these relationships while facing each others annoying habits!
Yes relationships should be celebrated every day. But businesses would have a hard time keeping up with the demand for Valentine’s Day product. So embrace February 14th!
