Happy Valentines Day

What do you think of the cookies my daughter made to celebrate the day? They taste even better than they look!

I've been contemplating Valentines Day since, as a romance writer, it should be my favorite day of the year.

It's not.

Let me give you some background. As a single woman for nearly 30 years, I dreaded Valentines Day and spent more of them with friends than with significant others. I probably had more fun doing that, but still, society looks at you as if something is wrong with you.

Flash forward to now.

I don't have a romantic husband, he just didn't get that gene. For my birthday, when we were first dating -- had been going out for just under two months -- he gave me an interesting gift: seatcovers for my truck. Aww.... how sweet. And he proposed by shoving the ring at me and saying "here". Think that would fly in a novel?

I was a little surprised at the time, but over the years, a pattern has emerged: cookware, a VCR, a digital camera, a vacuum cleaner. And I realized that he's taking care of me.

He comes home every night. He works at a job he hates so that I can stay home with our daughter. He mows the lawn and changes the oil in the vehicles. He makes sure I'm safe and comfortable. And, really, that's pretty romantic. Even better, he doesn't need a special day to obligate him to do those things.

So, what are we doing for Valentines Day? Absolutely nothing special. But I'll cook him dinner, and clean the house and he'll go to work and bring home a paycheck and that's the best gift we can give each other.

Every day.