Falling in Love with Valentine's Day Again

The house is filled with flowers, my heart is full of gratitude, & I think I may be falling in love with Valentine's Day once again. When I was growing up, I loved Valentine's Day because I loved cards. Receiving a card in the mailbox was & is still one of my favorite joys. My parents, grandparents, & aunts made sure I had a full mailbox each year. My mom & dad made us feel special with treats, decorations, and notes. I have spent 11 of the last 13 Valentine's working at a florist. Valentine's quickly became dreaded & exhausting. Some of the guys made me smile with the thought and goofy love they put in to their orders, but others made me very cynical about the whole thing. Slowly as the years went by, the cards in my mailbox became fewer as loved ones passed or became too old to remember. Valentine's became a day clouded by some sadness and dread.

Jack and I have spent many Valentine's Days together. Despite my protests, he always brings me flowers & a card because he know those are my favorite things no matter what time of year it is. Sometimes he'd add a favorite bottle of wine or chocolate, & there were years we would go out to dinner. After working on my feet all week and dealing with so many customers at the flower shop, Valentine's dates felt forced & tiresome. Valentine's has been quieter since we've been married. We usually do our dates at home, & I much prefer that.

Over the past 2 years, God has been teaching me so much about finding peace & contentment in each season. His lessons began during a very quiet season of my life. I learned to find beauty & comfort in His creation each month & to be intentional with my thoughts and time. He showed me the importance of living in the present instead of constantly wishing my life away. During 2024, I deeply felt I was in a calm before a storm, & God was preparing me for something hard. I learned how to find joy in nature in season...even the cold, dark ones. Looking back, God was preparing me for a dark season in my own life. I'm still learning how to navigate finding joy during a season of heartbreak & grief, but His goodness & grace has faithfully carried me through.

This particular Valentine's Day stings more than most. I've thought so much this week about Papa. He & Mimi always filled my mailbox for Valentine's Day, birthdays, & occasionally other holidays in between. Sometimes he would even send me a separate card on his own just so I would have something else to open. I learned at a young age how to read his "chicken scratch" handwriting to interpret each note. I can't help but think about Papa playing with his newest great grandchild up in Heaven waiting on us. Our little Valentine in Heaven is always on my mind. I did go back to work at the flower shop this week for a few days. My mind drifted to the many Valentine's I spent with Mrs. Tina, a grandmother figure who recently passed. She & I spent countless hours cleaning thorns off roses, arranging flowers, and talking about everything under the sun.

God is teaching me that joy and sadness can coexist. Two things can be true. What a blessing it is to love & be loved so much that one day you have someone to miss.

So this year, I resolved to change my tune about Valentine's Day. Despite the sadness & grief that is still very real & present, I intentionally did things that bring me joy. I focused on the loved ones I am so blessed to have here & now while giving myself space to remember the ones I've lost. I bought my own flowers & filled my house with arrangements & colors I love. I decorated my table with sentimental pieces. I hosted a lovely brunch with some special ladies for "Galentine's Day". My house has been filled with people I love & flowers & cards from people I love.

I know I'm not the only one who has spent years dreading Valentine's Day. Maybe there is another day of the year that you dread. Shifting your thoughts to those of gratitude, planning special moments, & buying yourself the dang flowers you want are all ways to change your attitude on those hard days. God's plan for our life is not for us to sit back & be passive while life happens to us. We have to take action & make the choice to be intentional with our time, prayers, & thoughts. It's not easy. With each step, God will show you the beauty, goodness, & light around you...even on the hardest days. I hope you're able to chose joy during hard seasons, whether it's a dreary winter day, a season of hardship or grief, or a tiresome holiday like Valentine's Day. So buy the flowers, spend time in God's creation, & love on those you still have on this side of Heaven this Valentine's Day. You may surprise yourself & start to love Valentine's Day again too.