Today's Subject...Love

You either love it or hate it, but there is no denying that Valentine’s Day is a part of American culture just as much as beer pong and Bruce Springsteen.

Valentine’s Day and I have a love hate relationship. I hate to love it. It’s cliché, the entire holiday. I am fully aware of how fabricated the entire idea is, and I am ashamed to admit I am a hopeless romantic for the whole ordeal. Yes, I want the roses, the chocolate zebra cakes, I want the sappy card with the poem that is inside, the candle lit dinner etc... if every man could only expel the wicked expectations that Hallmark and Hollywood have engrained in every women’s mind there would have never been a relationship that crumbled on this made up celebration of one’s love for their partner. If my partner showered me with these fake grandiose romantic gestures, frankly if he did I would question the validity of
my significant other’s sanity for he knows my love hate relationship with this
celebration. Are these really the ultimate expression of love?

Here comes the love hate relationship part: I love this holiday and everything it stands for – the idea of celebrating your love with someone special is truly a great thing. But it is far from the ultimate expression of love – it is the acknowledgment that Hallmark and Hollywood have duped the American public yet again. Shouldn’t we be celebrating the love we have in our lives every day?

Every day I am shown the ultimate expression of love – which ends up being more important than any flower, Little Debbie or wax dripping on my table cloth. There are days when I don’t have gas in my car – so he will fill it up, and wash it too. There are days when I don’t have anything good for dinner – so he will stop and get groceries to make a home cooked meal. There are days when work has taken everything out of me, and he is there with a hug and a listening ear to fill me up, recharge me for the next day. There are days when my shoulders hurt from sitting at the computer, and he is there to rub them, melting the stress from the day away. There are days when I debate walking away from my house, my job, paying my bills – he is there to keep me grounded and shows me there is so much to be grateful for. There are days when I have to fire someone, have a conflict with a co-worker or I have to abandon a 20 year friendship that brings toxicity to my life – he is there to tell me I am a good person and I do the right things.

Every day he asks me how my day was, he tells me he loves me, he says he’s
sorry when I am hurting and willingly shares the pain. He celebrates with me when
I am joyful. He supports me in my life trials. He tells me I’m beautiful, asks
me what he can do to help me, shovels my driveway, makes the bed in the
morning; loves my dog as much if not more than I do. He listens, pays attention
and follows through.

These actions put any Valentine’s Day poem to shame, the most beautiful bouquet of flowers wilt over time and that box of Zebra cakes clearly doesn’t last very long either.  These acts of selflessness are the ultimate expression of love and it occurs every day including February 14^th.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of those hopeless romantics like me, may you find the one who does it all.

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