How do I love thee?

You know what? I like Valentine's day. A lot. I'm not just saying that because I have a man in my life (and have had him in my life for the past eleven years). I like the cards and the chocolates and all the red and pink hearts everywhere. (I have a pink heart tattoo, for crying out loud.) I like the cute decorations and the childrens' books covered in  hugs and kisses. I wore my red shirt and red earrings and heart necklace today and stood out as the lone "festive" bookseller. It irks me when people say, usually quite smugly, "Oh, we don't celebrate Valentine's day. We show our love for each other every day." I mean, really? Is that your way of saying I don't show my love for my husband every day because I do celebrate this holiday? "It's a Hallmark holiday." Great! Sell me a card, Hallmark! Even when I wasn't dating a special someone on Valentine's day, I still had my family. My dad would bring home roses for his three girls and we would all buy cards for one another. There was usually a dinner out for all of us, too. It's just a day to love and be loved. Sure, just like every other day, but on a way more public scale. Do I need Christmas to remind me that the Savior of the world was born? Nope, but I celebrate it nonetheless. Because it's fun. And it's happy. And it makes me feel good on a day that would otherwise just be.another.day. My husband is deployed (No! Really?) so I am without my Valentine this year. I'm okay with that. I have friends coming over tonight and we're going to watch sappy movies and eat all of the yummy chocolate I received today. I don't need my man to celebrate. Yes, the main focus of this holiday is a romantic love and it's not called "Singles Awareness Day" for nothing, but love is love. And I'm a lucky girl to have SO much love in my life.

So I wish all of you a very Happy Valentine's Day, whether you're with the one you love romatically or the one you want to love romantically. Whether you're with your best friends or maybe just with your best cat (or dog). It's a day to celebrate love so CELEBRATE.

It also didn't hurt that my very awesome husband

sent me flowers and a box of Godiva while I was at work.