Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yes, today is a day that’s filled with romance, but it’s also a day that’s filled with lonely hearts. I used to be one of those and it’s hard. Very hard. However, today I get to say that I have fallen totally in love with my husband, all over again.

Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve always loved him, but I seem to love him more now. It feels different somehow. More… something. I can’t explain it. Today, when I read his beautiful card to me, I cried. He’s not great with words usually, this plumber man of mine, but sometimes when he writes stuff he gets right to the core. This year it struck home. I am very lucky.

Not all of our Valentine’s have been like this. And it’s not about roses or chocolates (of which I received the latter), but about what’s in his heart all year round. Often my husband forgets to get birthday cards and Valentine’s and ends up using the kids construction paper to make me a card about five minutes before I enter a room. Most of the time I don’t mind. Some years he has been away and there’s been nothing. We’ve been together for 12 years, married for 10. That’s a lot of Valentine’s.

This year he made an effort to find the perfect card, the perfect gift and to buy the kids stuff so I wouldn’t have to.

This morning, after I texted his cell to say “Be My Valentine”, his reply was “For 365 days of every year”. Very simple, but better than anything else he could have said.

I think it might have been the huge 40th surprise birthday I just held for him, or maybe we’ve just finally realised that there’s more to our lives than just the daily grind with the kids and chores, etc. I don’t know. I just know this year, we seem to have it right.