Happy Valentine's Day

So here we are again at the most loved and hated of all holidays: Valentine's Day. It's a whole lot different when you are not teaching in high school--so much less drama and none of those stupid candy-grams or carnations or general popularity contests. Nobody is crying or showing off some inane stuffed animal with a box of waxy chocolate attached. There is no sea of balloons in the hallway. . .Stiggs, Barts, and Gloria, you can call me out if I am waay over-sentimentalizing V-Day. Or, as the kids liked to call it: Single Awareness Day (SAD). Sigh. Oh, the drama of high school and how nice it is to miss it for a year!

Today I realized that this is my fifth V-Day with John, and that makes me really happy, but it also makes my head spin because in my mind, we barely just started dating six weeks ago. Really, we've been married 3 1/2 years but it seems like yesterday that we were on a first date at Perry's Italian in Clear Lake. I hope you love birds out there are all eating at good restaurants like Perry's tonight!! Order something sinfully fattening in a nice, rich cream sauce for me! With a bottle of wine and some dessert. And appetizers! Go for broke!

John and I are indulging in one of our favorite treats for our V-Day dinner: breakfast for dinner. So what if it's just a good excuse to have bacon. . .again. It's fun to mix up your meals. Well, not that I want dinner for breakfast, but breakfast can work for lunch or dinner. Anyway. . .this is off topic. His football coach did not cancel their standing Wednesday meeting tonight, so we opted out of the 100Euro-per-couple, 6-course meal deals that are so popular here for something low-key that would accommodate the meeting. Coach Al is certainly not making football popular with his players' wives and girlfriends. But it's really all the same to me--it's just another over-commercialized day.

I am really not the romantic, mushy, sentimental type except when I am and those are rare occasions, so treasure them! But this year I have spent a lot of time thinking about how much I appreciate my husband and all the crap he puts up with or pretends to enjoy for my sake. He's a real trooper, and I love him so much! But if you know John, then you know how wonderful he is already, and I don't need to bore you by going into details. He's great. And fun. And funny. And brave. And calm. And understanding. And kind. And laid back. And interested in things that I am interested in. And he's as excited about the baby as I am. And he cooks bacon well. I mean really, really well.

When you like bacon as much as I do, this is very important.

So I am thrilled that I am able to celebrate my husband on this fifth Valentine's Day, and I know we'll have many, many more. The nice thing is that he appreciates me every day of the year, so today is not exceptionally special. It was just a lot more fun when I got to watch all the high school drama from the sidelines when I taught.

Any catfights at the schools today? You gotta love a good catfight! (Actually, my fellow teachers know that fights make me sick to my stomach and weak in the knees and have me lamenting "Oh, the humanity!" by the end of the day. The last time I was in close proximity to a fight I decided to quit my job and move to a different district--but this is all a side note) The drama is just too good to miss.

So that's my Valentine's Day blog. Hope you all enjoy the day whether you are with someone or not. Whether someone breaks the bank for you or you for someone else. Or whether you just enjoy something you really love (in my case, John and, um, bacon) today.

And if you miss it today, all the candy goes on sale tomorrow anyway. . .