Valentine?

I am feeling distinctly un-Valentiney (is that even a word?) today. After 4 days of nursing sick children, dealing with the constant whining and clinging of said children, lost sleep, a messy house, and the fact that I haven't been able to change out of my sweats in more days than I care to count, I don't feel a single romantic cell in my body.

Why is it that our culture feels the need to focus on one day of the year as the day that you have to be ultra-romantic? Why is it that I feel that if I don't give Aaron a card today and make him a nice meal and spend time gazing into his eyes that something is wrong with our relationship?

The truth is that Aaron shows his love for me all year long in so many ways. When he gets up at the crack of dawn to work all day to provide for our family and then comes home and works until late at night to finish his graduate school work. When he takes an active role in the lives of our children even though he is tired. When he helps with chores around the house even though those are things I am supposed to do. When he doesn't complain if I have not been able to cook dinner.

So even though I don't feel like doing the whole Valentine thing today I hope that Aaron knows how much I love him even if that love is not manifested by a gourmet dinner and wild passion but in more simple ways like by being patient with his children, managing to finish a load of laundry, brushing my teeth before he gets home, and greeting him with a simple kiss at the door.

It seems to me anyway that the true measure of love should be in the simple, selfless everyday things that we try to do for each other.