The greatest Valentine's Day

I like Valentine's Day. I know some people think it's a Hallmark holiday, but I like setting aside a day to show how much you love someone. Most people (re: men) don't think romantically all the time. It's only natural that we set aside a day to prompt them to communicate their feelings for their loved ones.
To me, nothing says love like a big box of candy. I love the Russell Stover candy boxes shaped like hearts. The lace, the flowers, the foil attached to it. It's so romantic! Of course, since I'm a borderline diabetic, it's also a big no-no. Still, I always thought that was a romantic gift.
I also love flowers. Especially ones that are delivered. Why that seems more romantic than the man just bringing them home, I don't know. A friend of mine got flowers delivered to her classroom this week. (She's a teacher.) The smile on her face stretched from ear to ear. It seems her husband IS one of those people that thinks this is a forced holiday. So for him to go to that much trouble really said a lot.
My husband and I usually try to go out for dinner sometime near Valentine's Day. Our schedules are so hectic, we don't always go out on the exact day. That's too crowded usually anyway. But we'll go out and just have some quiet time with just the two of us. With six children, peace and quiet and time alone is a rare gift.
One of our best Valentine's Day gift to each other was fourteen years ago. That was when our third child was born. Our first seven years of marriage had a lot of rough spots as we both needed to grow up a little. But during this third pregnancy, Terry accepted Christ as his Savior, and I rededicated my life to the Lord. As we grew closer to Him, we also grew closer to each other. We just sort of fell in love with each other all over again. When I went into the hospital on Valentine's Day, Terry was with me the whole time. Except for a little while when he slipped away somewhere. I didn't know he went to the hospital gift shop. He brought back a beautiful rose in a glass vase. It was so sweet a gesture, it almost made me forget the pain of the contractions. Almost! The nurse thought it was sweet too. She admired the flower right before she told my husband he needed to get it out of the birthing room. Hospital rules or something. It was still the best Valentine's Day flowers I ever received. After a long and painful labor process, our baby was born by c-section that night around 8:30 p.m. Since that time we spend Valentine's Day celebrating our son's birthday instead of going out for Valentine's Day. It's a nice trade off and I wouldn't have it any other way.