"The course of true love never did run smooth."

There seem to be 3 Valentine's Day camps among my Facebook friends: actively pro, actively con, and pretending it's just another day. For V, it's a day full of candy, and she got to wear pajamas to school, and we bought her a helium heart balloon. For my mama, who is recovering from a sinus infection, it's a day to rest and try to recuperate, and we bought her a yellow rose, because we love her and she loves yellow roses.

And my funny valentine? In our first few years of marriage, this was a big day for Shaunsie. One year I came home from Crookston, exhausted from teaching, and smelled chocolate cookies. I thought, honestly, that his mother had come for a surprise visit, or someone had broken into our house to do baking, before I realized he had made the cookies himself. In the oven. Another year, we went to see the movie Miracle on February 13, and went to dinner at Denny's beforehand (because that's how we roll), and he had a group of local musicians show up at Denny's and sing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." It was ridiculous, and sweet, and I'm giggling a little just writing this.

This year? This year we're all recovering from a stomach bug (well, Shaun's not recovering yet. I'm hoping that happens soon), and the house is relatively clean, and our primary babysitter has a sinus infection, and we're trying to save money for car repairs and an emergency fund and all sorts of unromantic things. As I type this, he's rubbing his tummy and watching WWE Monday Night Raw, and I'm googling Shakespeare in another window. We are different, aren't we?

A year ago, I wasn't entirely sure we'd see another Valentine's Day together. I certainly didn't expect that our house would be this clean, or we'd be actively working to heal decade-old wounds, and moving towards better partner-i-ness.

I love him, for those marvelous Valentine's Days, and for these less exciting ones, and for most of the days in between. It's not been all good, but it's mostly good, and I feel hopeful that our future days, valentine-y or otherwise, hold more goodness to come. Maybe chocolatey cookie, four-part-harmony type goodness, or some kinds we haven't discovered yet.

I hope your day is sweet, whichever camp (pro, con, or ignorance-is-bliss) you're in. The Rock just showed up on Raw for the first time in seven years, so I should probably go listen to what he has to say (Compromise is, truly, the heart of marriage). 

I may just slip a Shakespearean quote under Shaun's pillow before bed, though.

(Edited, in the interest of full disclosure: by "mostly good," I mean literally 51% good. And Shaun wants me to tell you the cookies he made were the pre-made, take-out-of-the-freezer-slice-bake-and-eat kind)