Valentine's Day

It's always lovely when other people celebrate "the day" that David and I officially connected, "the day" that started us on our path to where we are now. For my part, that used to be my least favorite day of the year (full of commercialism and forced attention - I once wrote a column in my high school newspaper about it, ha) is now one of my favorite days of the year, if only to remember how sweet David has ALWAYS been to me and also to remind me how lucky I am to have him by my side now. 

Although this year we didn't do much/anything by way of celebration (other than, you know, him letting me go to Hawaii with my mom and grandma for the week), I wanted to acknowledge that this marks our 14th Valentine's Day together - which means it's our GOLDEN Valentine's Day. And truly, this man is made of pure gold. The picture above was taken in while we were dating. I'm so grateful that one fateful Valentine's Day turned into that, which turned into THIS: 

These pictures didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I wanted to include them anyway - on my sister's trip, David and I snuck away from the group for just a minute to check out the view of the store we were at. (You can see our house in the distance.) Melissa snapped the photos. One of the things I love about David is the little pockets of time we can sneak in to be together. Everything from a weekend away, to scooting right next to him on the church bench when a child gets distracted and moves away for a moment. The feeling of his arm around my shoulders pulling me close gives me the same loved feeling that a whole weekend away with him does - only in different sized doses. I love him and love to be with him. I'm so grateful we are sharing this life together. 

And now those two young people in the first picture, have produced a whole gaggle of children who ALSO love Valentine's Day. 

We keep things pretty simple at home usually, but a small box of chocolates and a few small items for a Valentine surprise in the morning - plus a homeschool valentine's party in the afternoon and I'd call the day a smashing success.