The Valentine Blues

Valentine's Day, a day set aside for expressing love to those who mean the most to you, is now behind us for this year.  At heart, I am a hopeless romantic.  For a period of time in my life, I enjoyed reading romantic novels, and romantic comedies are among my favorite movies.  It seems, however, my life partner is not so into romance on Valentine's Day. . .or at least not when he is preoccupied with his time in the North Dakota Legislature!  He even walked right past the huge display of roses in WalMart without even blinking the night before Valentine's Day.  I did stop to inhale the smell, but that's the closest the bouquets came to me.

Perhaps it has something to do with the way a male's brain works.  Their brains focus on only one thing at a time.  We were in WalMart to get water, so why would he think about flowers?  With my multitasking female brain, I had spotted lots of Valentine "goodies" in the weeks leading up to the day, even when my purpose for being at a store had nothing to do with Valentines.  It's just how the female brain works.

This year, I had taken the time to make my own Valentine cards, as we had made them in our Legislative Spouses group, and I had leftover supplies.  The cards got delivered, along with the special treats I had picked up for my husband, son, and daughter & family.  My daughter sent a picture of the grandkids opening their package, and I enjoyed watching an old video of them singing, "Happy Valentine's Da-ay" which came up on my Facebook memories.  We met my sister & her husband and brother & his wife & grandson for a Valentine meal at Olive Garden.  Still, at the end of the day, all I could think about were the flowers I didn't get, and went to bed pouting.

The next day, I was conversing with one of the ladies in our water aerobics group.  I think we were talking about the weather, and I found myself telling her about my Great Grandma's mantra of "Keeping calm, taking everything as it comes, working hard, and staying close to God."  As soon as it came out of my mouth, I thought back to my reaction on Valentine's Day.

As much as I knew my husband had a good excuse for not getting me a Valentine [it HAD been a long day at the Capitol!], I hadn't been willing to "take things as they come".  Even though I tried to remain calm on the outside, my inner thoughts were far from calm.  "Sorry, Grandma Boe!  I sometimes fail to follow your advice!"

When it came time to do my Bible reading for the day, I realized I had missed doing the assignment for Valentine's Day.  Perhaps I wasn't the only one longing for some "special attention" the day before.  Could it be God waited all day for me to show Him some love?  Unfortunately, I was so "self-focused" I forgot all about Him!

It was then I glanced across the room and noticed something.  There was a new blossom blooming on the Christmas Cactus plant I am tending at our "home away from home" in Bismarck.  Suddenly I heard God's voice in my head saying, "Diane, I even sent you a flower for Valentine's Day and you didn't even notice!"  Time to adjust my attitude, and get over my Valentine Blues!