Happy Valentine's Day... Stupid Cupid.

Drumroll please..... It's Valentine's Day. February 14th. I remember those days well sitting in elementary school counting out cartoon valentines at the end of the day to see how many I got. Junior high and high school got the carnation sales and the anticipation of seeing flowers delivered every period. Strange, how college was a bit of a blur and I can't recall the rites for that stage of romance...(blush).  Your twenties alternate between being preparing furiously to celebrate an uber-romantic evening with the love of your night or wearning all black and having a sassy girls' night out in defiance of the whole tradition.

I learned gradually as I got older to drastically lower my expectations of Valentine's Day. Single or not, somehow, it always lead to disappointment. I was never swept off my feet. Flowers never showed at my workplace (Or was it I managed to avoid being on the schedule so as to not vomit on a colleague's roses?). There were no surprise-cooked-just-for-me candlelit dinners. Lowering one's expectations worked well. I could enjoy a splash of color in the ol' wardrobe again and perhaps even hum a chorus or two of  "My Funny Valentine" walking by two twenty-somethings on their way to the last dinner of their relationship.

2007.  I may have been single on February 14th that year, but I was certainly looking forward to February 18th. I had a blind date scheduled. Meeting a gentleman at nice cozy tavern in Fells Point known for it's simple good food. I was terrified. The girl would be showing up with the green headband. Yeah, I know. Cliched at it's finest.  It was fun dinner, full of great conversation and laughter. He was tall, handsome, smart and gave me butterflies like no other. Clearly there had to be a catch. Especially when I ended the date early for my 4 am alarm for work the next day. I hoped, but had no idea if I would ever see him again. (yeah, you men are weird like that...).

2011. He's still here, snoring next to me on a nightly basis. I call him my dear husband. We have three gorgeous boys. We may bicker over who is going clean the cat box, change the next dirty diaper, put gasoline in the cars or fold the laundry; but he's my funny Valentine and we do it together. See what lowering your expectations for awhile can do? Land you the lottery.

Stupid Cupid, always picking on me.

WooHoo! It's National Marriage Week.

Valentine's Day is fast approaching. But even more importantly, did you know the week leading up to Valentine's Day is National Marriage Week? Apparently it's an annual celebration/focus on marriage from February 7-14. I am actually all for this, celebrating all types of marriages. I think, perhaps, it shouldn't just be a week. It should be 52 weeks, given the divorce rate in our country.

Marriage, after all, is hard work. Any married person can attest to that. It's easy for us to lose track of each other and nurturing of the marriage. There's work, there's the kids. There's house maintenance. There's chores. There's the never-ending laundry. There is the me time. And yet somehow, we rarely make time for the we time.  Oh sure, once every couple months one might call the babysitter and go out on a date, and typically start out the conversation with "Isn't this great? We really need to get out by ourselves more often..." and by the end of the evening have digressed to talking about the kids exclusively.

We have been working to get our married groove back since the birth of the twins. We instituted our Top Chef Sundays which has been quite successful thus far, as we have found we really enjoy cooking for each other again. I do my best to try to hang out for at least a half hour or so at night when the kids go down once or twice a week. (it's not easy). And Keith tries to come to bed early once or twice a week to keep me happy. We are also back to attempting to remember the little things and the small courtesies that are so easy to forget and take for granted.

With a little luck, it will be National Marriage Week all 52 weeks of the year in this home. And hopefully Valentine's Day everyday. I wish nothing but the same for EVERY married or united person out there.