Why I Love Valentine's Day

I have pregnancy brain in the worst way.  It's a real thing.  Look it up.  I have to write everything down right away or else I'll forget.

I was reminded of this last night as I was brushing my teeth.  I suddenly remembered the whole reason I was inspired to write yesterday's post - which I had completely forgotten to include.

So here goes.  Just pretend you're reading this near the end of the post from yesterday:  Last night might have been the last straw for Lewis.  I woke up in the middle of the night, dripping in sweat, completely convinced that there was an extra blanket on the bed that very much needed to not be there.  I spent a good amount of time yanking and pulling at this blanket, trying to get it off the bed before collapsing back on my pillows, fast asleep.  When I woke up the next morning, tangled in the mess I had made, I discovered that the "extra blanket" did not exist.  Luckily Lewis had managed to sleep through all my shenanigans and was just mildly bemused at the state of the bed covers.  Phew.

***

I love Valentine's Day.  I mentioned last year about how my mom taught us to celebrate all kinds of love on Valentine's Day, not just the romantic variety.  I love to have a special day to express the love I have for everyone that is in my life.  Lewis is the beneficiary of the most material expressions (case in point, there's a white chocolate cheesecake currently baking in my oven), but I hope to take the time to express love to many of the meaningful people in my life today.

Every year I hear people express disdain for Valentine's Day.  It's just commercial! they say.  I don't need a holiday to tell someone I love them!

This is a fair point.  I don't need this holiday either.  But let me tell you about some other things I don't need.

I am grateful every day that I am a citizen of the United States of America.  I don't need a day to celebrate our independence.

I try hard every day to take care of the world I live in.  I don't need a day to celebrate the environment.

I am constantly reminded of the Savior.  That He was born, that He died for my sins, and that He was resurrected.  I don't need days to celebrate those events.

But I have those days.  And I love celebrating them.  These are all things I should remember daily.  And they've all, in some way or another, been commercialized.  But that's not going to stop me from taking a special day (or season, as the case may be) to focus on celebrating them more specifically.  And the fact that each year comes pre-packaged with these holidays, so I don't even have to think about celebrating them and then forget makes it all the better.  Why should love be any different?

This is from our very first Valentine's Day together, five years ago.

But I've always been cheesy.