Remember What Love is Really About

Well we’ve made it through January and are firmly in the “Month of Love”. Over the past few days I’ve excited talked with friends about what we may be doing this year and of course, wondering about what surprises I may find that day, but I am careful to keep myself in check.

Valentine’s Day 2008 was a tough one for me. My husband, along with so many other Fort Polk Soldiers, was deployed and we were staring at 12 months left to go in a 15-month deployment.

I knew that I could easily get bogged down with sadness dwelling on my situation, so I made a pact with other spouses of deployed Soldiers to celebrate the holiday, even if I was separated from my husband. So after leaving work, I met some of the “girls” for dinner where we laughed and shared stories of Valentine’s Days past and passed around the gifts we’ve been sent from our Soldiers. We also swapped the children’s Valentine’s Day cards, causing many laughs as we discovered who’d chosen which theme (I went with Hannah Montana!)

It was a great chance for us to remember the happier times while looking forward to the future.

I’d talked with another friend who said she and her husband each take a child out for a special night, dad takes daughter and mom takes son. It’s a chance for them to spend on-on-one time with their children and let them know that they are important on that special day too.

Another friend and her Family make a list of things they like about each other and share them with each other over dinner.

Whatever you are doing for the holiday, I encourage you to remember that it is the memories that last a lifetime, not the gifts that we give each other. Take the time to show those you love how much you care. It’s not about shiny new thing or how much money you spend that will be treasured, but the stories you create together.

So remember, whether you eat steak fancy restaurant or hotdogs and macaroni and cheese made by your children, its being together that makes the day special.