Do you have romantic plans with your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day? A special dinner out, perhaps, or did he surprise you with flowers and chocolate?

I remember when I was in high school, “the thing” was for the girls to receive flowers or balloons at school on Valentine’s Day. I recall dropping some not-so-subtle hints to my parents about it, and they were very kind to bless me with a special vase or balloon. You see, I didn’t want to be the one who went home empty handed (although I’m sure there were many who actually did so). Even though I knew that people loved me, I had a desire for others to see that someone went to the expense and trouble of sending me a token of love on Valentine’s Day.

This is now my 17th Valentine’s Day married to Trevor, and we decided long ago that we wouldn’t make a big deal of this day…..mostly because we’re so frugal (aka cheap) that we can’t stomach paying full price for flowers and cards and candy. To us, it’s seems like an occasion manufactured by card and candy companies to increase their sales. We know that we love each other, and we don’t need to be pressured into buying things on February 14 to show it….we should show it all the time.

But that doesn’t keep us from taking advantage of clearance candy deals after Valentine’s Day. 🙂

With all of that said, I want to tell you how my husband is being romantic and showing me true love on this Valentine’s Day. I’ve written before about how tight our budget is lately. Some of it is just life….things break; people get sick; the economy fluctuates. Some of it is our choice: we’re making sacrifices and scrimping so that we can afford the kids’ homeschool academy, karate classes, and piano program. For us, it’s worth the belt-tightening because we feel that we are doing what’s best for our children.

Trevor is a hard worker and a wonderful provider for our family. He’s a public school teacher, so his income depends a lot on whether the economy is robust or poor in a certain year, and unlike the corporate world, there’s little opportunity for economic advancement.

Lately Trevor has accepted some outside tutoring requests, for which I’m very thankful. And he was given the opportunity to work the gate at a basketball tournament this weekend to earn some extra income. So this morning, on Valentine’s Day, he left to tutor for a couple of hours, and he will then work until 10:00 or so tonight at the basketball tournament. I’ll hardly see him today.

It’s not fun being away from my soul mate all day on Valentine’s Day (not to mention having the kids by myself all day), but in my opinion he is doing the most romantic thing he could do for me….bringing home some extra “bacon.” And for this vegetarian, that’s a pretty yummy thing!

So, Happy Valentine’s Day, Trevor, and thank you for working so hard to care for our family!

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)