In my house Valentine’s Day is a tricky proposition. The month starts out with a flood of commercials reminding my husband how to be the perfect valentine. What to buy, what to cook, how to make easy delicious desserts.

But you have to understand, he doesn’t really believe in Valentine’s Day; he calls it a “commercial holiday created by mainstream America to help fuel the national GDP.” To be honest, he’s never actually given me roses for Valentine’s Day, not even a box of chocolates. Each year it’s the same thing, I try to do something special. I search magazines and go online looking for easy delicious desserts as well as new and interesting ways to create my own candied roses; but each year he shoots me down. It has become our own little game. I pretend to fall for it and I put aside my new recipes for another day and pretend to treat Valentine’s Day just like any other day; and each year he spoils me rotten. 

No, I never get roses for Valentine’s Day, not even candied roses, what I get each year instead is a custom made piece of his heart. There was the year that my husband made me a hand drawn card. It was perfect! Now it sits on my desk in a pretty picture frame to remind me each day how much he loves me. Then, there was the year that he painted me a picture. A dozen red roses that now hangs in my dining room. The years in between I received card after card with the sweetest, most heartfelt, beautiful poetry written just for me.

I think he secretly loves Valentine’s Day; it is the one day of the year he gets to be as mushy as he wants and no one dares laugh at him. He gets so wrapped up in what he is doing for me, he doesn’t even really pay attention to what I try to do for him; in fact he gets mad if I do anything for him. So, I put away all those recipes that teach you how to make easy delicious deserts for another day, his birthday, and I sit back and enjoy the attention. I have blissfully accepted that Valentine’s Day is his one day a year to tell me how much he loves me and I can’t wait to see what he does this year!