When you first fall in love, you go out on a date, and it doesn’t matter where you go, because you only plan to look at one thing.  In one direction. Into each other’s eyes. This happens a lot in those early days, when you’re dazed and in crush, and all you want to see are his eyes captivated by you and that smile that curls up just a tad when he’s tickled by how into him you are. Those are fun days. Happy days. Days of infant love.

Then, years go on and you enjoy sharing experiences together. Attend a show together. Share a blanket in the stands during a game. Squeeze the life out of each others’ hands on the rides at an amusement park. All the while, your eyes are fixed on the world in front of you, but the end of the night, your eyes are back on each other as you relive the thrill of the day, the awe of what you shared, the moments that you experienced. Together. 

More years pass and you go on a date, and your eyes are everywhere. On the menu. On the big screen TV on the wall over the bar. On your iPhone, just in case someone posted some earth shattering news on Facebook. Yeah, you’re a little distracted. But, so is he, and you’re still enjoying each other’s company, and you still end the night, eyes on each other, kisses and cuddles. You’re just not fixated with the new, because you’re cozy with the years behind you and looking forward to the years ahead of you. Like a good wine or a good, I hear, it gets better with time. But it also needs to be savored and not gulped as we often do with each other in those wrapped around each other, cling-on, young love days. Right? Sure, I suppose.

But you know what? Sometimes you have to get a little crazy and do those things that you used to do when you first fell into each other’s gaze. It’s called being creative. Takes a little time and energy. And you’ll often find, when you take some initiative, smiles grow wider, hugs get tighter, and the one you love is reminded. That he’s loved. That she’s cherished. I think it’s worth the effort.

So this Valentine’s marks our fourteenth February 14th as a married couple. Yeah, you could say I’m into the numbers!

Valentine’s day started with flowers, chocolate and a green stuffed gator. Oh, and a special breakfast made by Hubs/Valentine Dad!

Then I went off to write and a few minutes into my day, Hubs sends me a text.

One word: “Woooooowwww!”

Because I left him a surprise in his office. With a little help from some key people with keys [pun intended 🙂 ] I was able to sneak through the glass storefront doors and into his office the night before and leave a little splash of love. Even stuck a Post-it note with my lipstick-kiss on the outside of his office door, which when he first spotted it, Hubs thought one of the staff was playing a trick on him. No tricks, Babe. I am just into you. And that was the third or so kiss I gave him on Valentine’s day.

The evening plan was to dance the night away in the city, but that changed with my injured calf. So Hubs made some calls and we were off to our fall-back, date night: dinner and a movie.

Funny thing is, I like it here. I love that fireworks still spark between us. But, we can be on a Valentine’s date and laugh about Jordan all over the big screen next to us, and no one feels slighted for a lack of attention. Because we’re safe with each other, and in the end, there’s no where I’d rather be. No one I’d rather be with.

And all night, I’m trying fruitlessly to get a “kissy-kiss” pic to post on my Valentine’s Countdown, and the lighting’s off, my nose looks huge, or half his head is cut off. 

I even fall asleep during Bruce Willis’s new Die Hard movie, which disappoints to the last line. Whatcha gonna do? About the only thing I agreed with about the movie was the title, because it was a good day to Die Hard, as in kill the switch, and time machine me to another seat. In another theater.  

As we stroll back to the car, hand in hand, we laugh about the atrocious dialogue and terrible acting. If Willis said, “I’m on vacation,” one more time, I would have been forced to throw pop corn at the screen. And pop corn doesn’t have great flight potential, so I refrained. Didn’t help that we didn’t buy pop corn. Because my tum-tum didn’t feel quite right. All night

Valentine’s Day ended with one last kissy pic attempt. And the next morning, Hubs woke up with the tummy bug that I realized, a little too late, I was fighting all during our date night. That’s what he gets for being married to the lady with the lips. Oopsie…

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How was your Valentine’s? Did you get a little crazy? Did you buy any discounted chocolate the next day?