We Don't Celebrate Valentine's Day.......

I should correct that to say that My Marine and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day any more.  We still like to do special things for our girls.  We live vicariously through them -- reliving our own childhood Valentine's Day nightmares memories as we watch them pour over boxes of valentines....ever so picky about getting just the right ones.  Do you get the ones with tattoos?  Do you get the ones with the cute puppy stickers?  Or do you throw caution to the wind and make your own?  And God-forbid you actually take the initiative and  buy the valentines for them without their approval  -  "Mooooo-ooooommmyyyy!  WHY did you buy the valentines with the bubbles?  Bubbles were so last year!" 

But we make it special for the girls -- little baskets filled with goodies, little hearts taped to their door with all the reasons why we love them so much, special Valentine's Day dinner and movie.  Whatever we do, it's all for them.  See....we're not total Valentine's Grinches!

Anyway -- where was I?  Oh yeah....why we don't celebrate Valentine's Day as a couple anymore. 

You may say "Oh, you've lost the magic."  But here's the thing.  We've been together 20+ years.....since we were 17 years old.  We've been through the cutesiness of the early-dating stages of Valentine's Day.  The flowers.  The cute (and now looking back, wildly inappropriate) cards.  The requisite chocolate and stuffed animals.  Then My Marine joined the military and we were hardly ever together for Valentine's Day.  Sure, he'd send me flowers, which I completely appreciated and loved....but Valentine's Day for me slowly turned into "The Day That I Sat At Home Alone With My Dog, Eating Chocolate Ice Cream Straight From The Container While Watching "Sleepless In Seattle""  It lost it's sparkle and meaning.

I don't need one day out of the year where we are encouraged to be extra nice to each other and buy stuff just because it's on the calendar.  I really do that for him any other day.  Like when I pick up nachos and salsa for him because it's his favorite snack.  Or when I'll stop and pick up a couple micro-brews that I think he'll like.  Or when he'll unload and load the dishwasher for me.  Or when he'll go out and pick up ice cream for me -- even if it's 9 o'clock at night.

I don't need an overpriced dinner -- where I have to stand and wait for a table amongst the unwashed masses waiting for my little dinner beeper to start buzzing and flashing.....only to be served by a cranky waiter who got stuck with Valentine's duty because he was low man on the totem pole.

I don't need overpriced flowers -- which usually end up dying within a day or two anyway.

I don't need mushy cards -- when all I need to do is look at him and we start laughing at something together.....because our minds just work that way now.

I don't need chocolate.  Wait....who am I kidding?!  OF COURSE I NEED CHOCOLATE!  What woman DOESN'T need chocolate!  And at least I got to go and pick out what I wanted.....instead of getting one of those sampler boxes that you end up taking one bite of and then leaving the rest of it in the box because it was that God-awful gooey filled stuff that you're just not sure what flavor it is.

If I really wanted a Valentine's gift it would be something that I would find useful....like having him put the seat down when he pees.  Or actually putting his dirty underwear and stinky, fuel-soaked flight suits in the hamper instead of on the floor AROUND the hamper.  Or one night, by myself, at the Doubletree Hotel where I can have a snore-free night's sleep.

My point is this -- as a military spouse, we learn to cherish every single day, every single minute.  He could deploy again for another year.  He could be sent on temporary duty (TDY) for who knows how long.  We never know how long we'll be together, so we take each day as it comes and take the opportunity to show our love and affection every single day.

So, in the end, I guess you could say that we DO celebrate Valentine's Day........we just do it every day.