day of love

I have a confession. I love Valentine's Day. (Yes, I worked at Hallmark and was brainwashed). Here are our Valentine's Days . . .

2006: Hubby and I were dating and at U of I. We actually got engaged exactly one week later. (I told him it was lame to propose on a holiday - Christmas, V-Day, birthday - was a cop out of a gift.) I had class late on Tuesdays. Hubby met me between each class to walk me to the next one with a traditional present. Roses, chocolates, lunch out, perfume . . . after my last class ended at 8 pm, we went to Dairy Queen and got an ice cream cake since it was too late for dinner.

2007: We had just moved to SC a week before. Hubby hadn't started school yet, and he planned the most romantic date ever. He wouldn't tell me where we were going just to look nice. It was a dinner cruise. We had no idea where we were going and ended up going to the wrong dock (like 20 minutes away wrong dock). It involved running and a few swear words, but we made it. I begged with the captain to hold the boat while Hubby parked the car. It was a magical night and Hubby actually asked me to dance (the one and only time).

2008: Hubby was doing shift work at prototype. The Bear was 2 months old. We met him for dinner at the Subway at his work. He couldn't leave. He only had 30 minutes, but it was our first Valentine's Day as a family.

2009: Hubby had just gotten home from deployment, and he was on leave. We were back in IL for a friend's wedding. It was the first time we left The Bear overnight (he loved hanging out with my parents though). It was hard for me to leave The Bear, but it was wonderful to be able to reconnect with Hubby.

2010: Hubby had the weekend off! We went up to Boston. We went to the Children's Museum and Disney on Ice. With deployment approaching, it was the perfect weekend of family love.