Love It or Hate It, It's Valentine's Day!

There's no escaping it. The signs are everywhere. From boxes of assorted chocolate, red and pink balloons, to roses and even over-sized teddy bears....it's Valentine's Day. For some, this day is a glorious one. But for many, this day is filled with reminders of what should have, could have, would have been if only that special someone was around...

Buddy Roller's Valentine to me

Even at an early age, kids are realizing the importance of Valentine's Day. My son's school has been preparing for this over-commercialized day well in advance. The front door, office, and hallways are covered with Valentine's Day paraphernalia, you can't get away from it even if you wanted to. The kids prepare valentines for each of their classmates and exchange them at a party in honor of the special day.  As a sentimental mom, I do appreciate the take home crafts I get every year and look forward to dressing up my Buddy Roller in something red and festive for his party.

As for me and the Hubs, our celebration is a little low key these days. In earlier years, yes we did cards, chocolate, roses, maybe gifts, and we would make reservations for dinner and be out there with everyone else waiting too long for a table. But even then, Valentine's Day was never just one person's responsibility. It was always a mutual agreement on what we would do. Love that about us!

Sea bass with lump crab meat in a lemon butter sauce

As we got older, and wiser, we both agreed to do things a lot simpler. It's not about the material things as much as it's about spending quality time with each other. So today we decided to beat the dinner crowd and have lunch together. Due to the recent storm, school was closed which meant I had the day off. I took Buddy Roller to his preschool for a few hours and met the Hubs at J. Alexander's for a delectable and sumptuous meal.

Filet Oscar, asparagus, crab meat and Bearnaise sauce

It was clear many other people had the same idea. There were many couples who were meeting for lunch and there was the exchange of gifts and flowers. There were also families with young children celebrating together and doing it their way. For Hubs and I, it was perfect. There was no wait. No hassle. We ate a delicious meal and appreciated the time we had together. There were no cards, no gifts, and no flowers and we were totally content with that. Just the two of us. Happy. Together. And doing it our way. 

No matter what your situation is, or what you choose to do, hope it's a happy (or at least decent) and safe Valentine's Day.