Valentine's Thoughts

In my attempt to calm the little miss down for her nap this afternoon, we sat down to rock & read a book. With Valentine's around the corner I searched for a holiday appropriate book & decided on Love You Forever, a classic, in my opinion! I showed it to Hannah & asked for her approval. She began trying to sing the little song from the book, I took that as a yes. She sat quietly, nearly motionless throughout the story as I read & fought back tears on more than one occasion. I remembered back to my childhood and my mom reading that book, and she too would fight back tears, often times losing the battle. I am sure I would giggle at her, just as I'm sure she knew that one day I would understand!

Sure enough, a number of years later I understand... or perhaps it's not so much understanding as it is amazement that I can love someone so much & in such an intense way! Don't get me wrong, I love and adore my husband... and that is a special, intense love. That is so different, we met, we connected, we bonded, we fell in love and that love continues to grow and grow. But with a child you often wonder if you will love your child & if you will love them from the beginning. And sure enough as soon as you look at that little face you are in love! I could go on & on trying to put this into words & I don't think I could do it justice. As I finished the story I thought about the many women I know who have given birth to a new baby in the last couple of weeks, and how overwhelmed they must be feeling, this overwhelming feeling I am talking about isn't from the whole ordeal, I am talking about the overwhelmed with love with their new baby. I thought back to when I had Hannah and how I loved her so much it almost hurt, I could burst into tears just looking at her and how blessed I felt.

Going back to Valentine's Day, it is a strange holiday, a very silly and commercialized one, but I love it just the same. It was never highly celebrated in our home growing up, sure we recognized it, but it also happened to be my younger sister's birthday. We would tease her that we were cheated because of that, but really we weren't. I am of the belief that Valentine's is indeed a holiday to celebrate love, but not just with our companion or mate, but with all the people we love. With our family & friends. I have an anniversary devoted just to my husband and me. So I want to make Valentine's a special day for my family. You may think I am getting sucked into the commercialization of the holiday, but is there a bad thing in taking another day to focus on family & show our love and appreciation for them and all they do for us? Yes, this post is more of a rambling of many thoughts, but that seems to be a pattern for me. So now you know my take on the holiday (I'll share more details on how we actually spend it later...) What's your take & what will you be doing this Valentine's Day?