"My Valentine!"

This week is "Valentine's Day", a day for celebrating our sweethearts, girl friends, boy friends and fiancées! We celebrate all of those special people in our lives that we designate as "valentines". I know that the kids at my school will exchange cards and have parties this Friday, some will give candy to each other, unlike us old folks, I don't expect to see any flowers given away.

When I first met my "valentine", I was at work, and as most guys, I was taken by her appearance. She had, and still has, bright and expressive eyes and a welcoming smile; she was well dressed without being too flashy; and she was friendly. After a while, we eventually began seeing each other on a very regular basis; rarely a night went by when we weren't with one another. Ah, romance in the beginning is like a whirlwind, swept up in emotion and infatuation.

Soon my "valentine" became my wife. We have been "valentines" for nearly 40 years now and it still seems to be working out well; at least for me anyway!

You may ask how does a "valentine" last for such an extended period, and I believe it is because of all of the shared life we've experienced together.

We have sat through thousands of breakfasts, lunches and dinners and still manage to find something to talk about at each sitting. We still laugh late at night when we say something funny in the bedroom when the lights go out. We still feel that "something" that we don't feel when we are with anyone else, and we aren't interested in looking anyplace else for that "something".

We have lived through each other's illnesses and injuries, feeling each other's pain and doing what we could to make the pain go away. We have each cried over loss of loved ones and found comfort in each other's arms. We have each argued with one another without using words that would cause the kind of hurt that doesn't leave quickly. We have both petitioned God when things looked bleak, and thanked Him when things go well.

She still looks at me like my hair isn't so thin, or my waistline isn't so thick; to her I still feel like a guy in his twenties. Yes I'm still that guy when I'm with her.

She will always be the girl God picked out for me. She is the first face I look for in the room, and the last face I see at night; I don't understand how she has managed to stop the aging process after all these years, but she's done it for me! Her name is Adrienne, she is my "valentine", she is the one that brings out the best in me! I only wish that everyone who reads this can have a "valentine" as great as mine is to me.

Celebrate love this week with someone that makes you better than you are, and tell them so; HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!