It's Valentine's Week!

Richard is now calling himself “the third man” in my life since I posted about two others first on here, so I had better fix that...poor thing.

I love Valentine’s Day. It is my second favorite holiday, after Christmas. I did NOT like it when I was a teenager, nor when I was single, until I met Richard. We started dating seriously in January of “that” year, and got engaged a few days after Valentine’s Day (ok, yes, it was at BYU, but we had known each other many months by then…!). So, Valentine’s Day was coming up and since we were not engaged yet, I wondered and wondered what should I do for him? Anything? Would it be too soon or two forward? Would he be doing anything for me? Such a quandary…

I was doing my student teaching at the time, and wanted to make something for my 5^th graders. I opted for large heart-shaped cookies with each one’s name on them. OH, wait! I could make some for Richard that look like those conversation heart candies! I could put messages on them – hmmm… what messages should I put? Do I DARE put “Love U”, or should it be "Love Ya"…?? Such decisions.

I made several for him, and opted for “Love YA”. He brought me flowers, and a heart-shaped pizza (only in Provo, right?) . We had a fun evening together… studying and taking breaks here and there. It must have worked – we got engaged 5 days later.

As we married and started life together, Valentines Day has always been significant. Richard is quite a romantic (refer to his blog – it may be hidden in there somewhere). During one of our first years of marriage he started “Valentine’s Week” (sometimes followed by “Birth Week”) and I would get sweet little surprises and tokens from him every day. I continued to make heart-shaped cookies with names on them for students when I was a teacher. When our kids were little, we made them for other people in our neighborhood or ward and delivered them to visiting teachees, the kids’ friends, or people we thought might need our attention. We still do it (ok, if you are reading this and you are in our ward now, DON’T be upset at me if you don’t get any!!).

So, friends – It’s Valentine’s Week!! What are you planning for your sweetie? Who is WAITING for you to give them a little “lift”? I promise it will “lift” you, too.