Celebrating Valentine's Day: Deeply Known, Fully Loved

 

            I spent most of my single years trying hard to embrace Valentine’s Day while simultaneously dying inside a little bit each year. I was so excited to be able to really celebrate it when we were married – and that seemed to be right about the same time all the married couples started publicly hating the day and posting about how a single day of love doesn’t really matter.

            But it matters to us. It’s totally fine if it isn’t your thing, but we genuinely love it and wanted to share about our celebration on Valentine’s Day!

            We started by oversleeping an hour, so three cheers for that! I managed to get showered and dressed before I had to report to my desk for work, but I was exceedingly grateful I didn’t have any video meetings in the first half of the day! I looked rough. And that was the view of his valentine Ryan had as he left for work that day. Big, wild hair plopped atop a girl waving goodbye and declaring her love. How lucky is he?

            Since we’re in the middle of moving, we chose to stay in for our celebration. We had some steaks in the freezer that I asked Ryan to grill and I chose a crab mac andcheese recipe from the Dashing Dish website and also picked out a chocolateraspberry brownie from the same site!

            I wore the brightest combo of pinks and whites I could find and did eventually properly do my hair and makeup.

            Ryan went to the little market after work and grabbed some sparkling grape juice (because I totally forgot about it) and also found some thunder jack cheese! What is that, you might ask? We first learned about it at our small group a few weeks ago. One of the guys brought it, and I loved it. It’s kind of like pepper jack, but better. The cheese itself is a blend of Colby and Monterey Jack, and then there are peppers worked into it. It has a smoky flavor (to me, anyway) and it’s just so very delicious.

            We worked together to make our dinner and then ate at a cleared-off space on our dining room table.

            After dinner, we exchanged our gifts, which were both winners in my opinion! I gave Ryan an air frying basket for our oven. (Our oven has a built-in air fryer, but we’ve had trouble getting food to be really crispy in it. He is hopeful that a proper air frying basket will be the solution!) He gave me a beachy clock I’d seen and liked. It’s going to look perfect in the new house!

            We curled up on the couch to rest for a minute while we watched a TV show and may have fallen asleep when it ended. Then we rallied for our workout before the day was done.

            It wasn’t the most polished Valentine’s Day we’ve ever had, but it was still a very good day full of sweet memories. Probably won’t soon forget the year we were mid-move during Valentine’s Day! But what I loved most of all about the day was that I felt so known and loved by the one who shares my days. I am so very grateful for him and all he does every day to make life sweet. I'm also so very grateful he is willing to celebrate the extra-special days in fun ways!