Why I Now Love Valentine’s Day

Mary in the Kitchen by Sarah Reinhard – CF107: Will You Be My Valentime’s?

My six-year-old daughter has changed my mind about a lot of things, and one of them is Valentine’s Day.

I used to roll my eyes at the idea of it. I used to pooh-pooh it and call it a Hallmark holiday. One year, I got my husband a card and he looked at me in confusion.

“But we don’t DO Valentine’s Day,” he protested. Which is EXACTLY why it was fun to surprise him with a card I had written myself.

My six-year-old LOVES Valentine’s Day. Here’s her chance to decorate and draw using her very favorite shape, a heart.

There’s wisdom in that.

I think Mary must have been that sort of person, the kind that embraced things and made them enjoyable by virtue of her enthusiasm for them. I think she must have used the talents she had–maybe for baking special treats or listening to someone’s troubles–and made them lovely by virtue of sharing them.

Valentine’s Day has been transformed for me, thanks to my six-year-old. I now see it as a chance to share the best part of myself with the people I love. It has become a way of expressing my love through the work I do, even the thankless tasks and humdrum duties I might not even like that much.

Though I like my kitchen, I don’t like cooking. But you know what? Valentine’s Day is a reminder to me, as I look at Mary, that I don’t have to like the things that show people I love them.

Image courtesy of _e.t on Flickr.com.