February 14, 2020 - 154 - "Valentine's Day: Our Hot Dates"

 Our Take On Valentine's Day

    Best I can figure, Michael and I have been together for 24 Valentine's Days.  I'm guessing a good 1/3 of them we've been apart.

     It's not a holiday we're that into.  I think we both look at is as pretty forced:  more to do with Hallmark and Russell Stover than me and Michael.

     I don't bid off for it.  We don't plan for it.  It usually kind of sneaks up on us. 

    But when the day comes we usually get a little sad if we're apart.  Suddenly it seems like nothing should be more important than celebrating the fact that we, miraculously, ended up together.

      But then I always say (and really mean):  "Every day we get to be together is like the best Valentine's Day anyone ever spent."  Sounds sappy when I write that down, but it's true.  Our worst day together is better than my best with anyone else.

     I mean this in the big-picture way.  Neither of us would be foolish enough to test the other on this point if we're in the midst of a spat, but once the tempest passes, we're both clear about this again.

     Getting to wake up and go to sleep together is the most romantic time of my whole life. 

     I've experienced some of the 'should be romantic...but feels kind of 'meh' ' type stuff:  poems written for me, impressive gifts, dinners in fancy restaurants, the whole champagne and chocolates and pricey get-aways stuff.  I once got 10 dozen roses sent to my office. 

     I'm not saying that stuff isn't nice...but there's usually a reason for flashy displays of affection.  A lot of times it's about someone making up for misbehaving, or over-compensating for what's missing in the relationship.

     Michael and I have had tons of traditionally romantic moments, but a Tuesday night having dinner in front of the TV in our pj's, watching our thousandth 'Grand Designs' episode...is what looks like  true love to me.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

   Tonight Michael is being the third wheel on a Valentine's Date with friends of ours in San Miguel. 

    I have equally romantic plans:  I worked three flights today and am spending the evening alone dying my gray roots, writing this blog, and...considering myself the luckiest woman in the world. 

    It's all perfect 'cause when we're apart we get to think about our million fun memories, how lucky we are every day, our latest crazy project we've got going, and look forward to being together again.  Getting to have a fabulous Tuesday night romantic dinner out (with no problem with Valentine's reservations), or a random Thursday morning drinking coffee in bed,

     ...and those moments make me feel more happy, loved, understood, appreciated, and known, than all the stuffed animals and long-stemmed roses in the universe.

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    Here's to being in love:  with our own lives, however they look, with ourselves, however we look (even with un-dyed roots) and with all of the people, critters, and places that we get to be in love with every day of the year!

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     All that being said...this meme from a fellow flight attendant did make me laugh...

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"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."

-Mignon McLaughlin

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"Love doesn't make the world go round.  Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."

-Franklin P. Jones

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"Love is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction."

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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