As has been mentioned, I’m tying the knot in May with the most wonderful man in the world.  Last night I was over at his house hanging out after work, and the subject of Valentine’s day presents came up.  Now you must realize, both David and I are pretty nontraditional and a bit blase about the whole Valentine’s day hype.  But since we both love giving each other presents, its a good excuse to do what we love.  The date itself isn’t that big a deal.  So last night we had this conversation:

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“So, Valentine’s day is tomorrow,” David says with a big grin.

“Yes, I know,” I say, grinning back, “And I’m excited about the gift you got me, even though you’ve already ‘tried it out’.”

I attempt to mock glare at him.  He texted me the day before saying that he’d bought my Valentine’s day present already and was ‘trying it out’ at work.  My response was, “Well then it can’t be chocolate or a sex toy”.  He thought that was funny.

“So do you want it now, or would you prefer to wait?” David has a slightly aprehensive look on his face.  According to him, he’s not sure I’ll like my present.  But I know I will.

“Well you’ve gotten me so excited about it already, taunting me with hints, you should probably just give it to me, or stop talking about it.”

“Ok,” he grins even bigger and leans over the edge of the bed we’re sitting on with his cat, Gizmo, to pull something out from underneath it.  He manages to fall off the bed in the process, though to be fair, it’s because I push him.

He re-emerges with a bag and slowly pulls out a gorgeous, red and black, leather-bound copy of Dracula, and a huge tome of a book that turns out to be The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe.  I gasp and squeal in delight, reverently taking the gorgeous things and running my fingers over them, feeling the pages and smelling their crisp new book smell.  Anyone who loves books knows exactly how I feel at this point, and exactly how excited I am.  If you don’t understand why I’m excited, then that’s ok, we can’t all be bibliophiles.

I thank him profusely, with much kissing and hugging, and we glow with a sort of shared triumph. His triumph is buying me the the most wonderful Valentine’s gift in the world; my triumph is receiving two gorgeous books and knowing that David is perfect for me because he knew I’d rather have them than flowers or sparkly jewelry.  We’ll pass over the little comment he made to the effect of “Oh, and these books will be mine too in 3 months, so I figured it was a win-win situation.”  😉

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The moral of this story is three-fold.  First of all, Valentine’s day is not a big deal, except for an extra opportunity among all the other everyday opportunities to spoil and love on your partner.  Make note of that phrase “among all the other everyday opportunities”.  Don’t wait for V-day every year to spoil your partner.  Love is a daily sacrifice.

Second, you must put effort into your love.  Not that flowers and chocolate are bad, just that every person should put thought and effort into loving their partner exactly how they need to be loved, based on what they know of them.  Every day you should think of how you can be a blessing to your partner through acts of service, encouraging words, and unconditional affection.

Lastly, books are awesome and you should love them too.  *holds up hand to forestall groans*  Bear with me a moment.  I’ve met some people who hate to read, and think its boring.  I completely understand that we are all different.  However the written word is extremely powerful.  As one of the three main ways we communicate ideas (the others being speech and visual cues), it’s an essential part of being human.  Reading has many documented health, social, and educational benefits.  It’s incredibly important in the development of the young mind, and it helps us come to understand and feel more connected with the world around us.  In our busy world, most people complain they don’t have time.  I say make time.  It’s that important.  If you absolutely can’t make time, at least listen to audiobooks (while you drive, exercise, cook, clean, etc.).  Encourage reading in your children, give them lots of books, and watch them grow and learn in amazing ways you never thought possible.

So that was Valentine’s day for me, and because of my wonderful David, and the awesomeness of books, it was epic.  Think about how you can really LOVE your partner today (sacrifice for them, love is not a squishy feeling in your right tennis-shoe).  Also think about how you can LOVE those around you.  It’s not just about romance, it’s about caring, it’s about putting others before yourself.

Lastly, what do you think?  Why should we or should we not read books and make them a regular part of our lives?  That’s all for now folks, thanks for reading!