Happy Valentine’s day, everybody!

Honestly, I go back and forth with how I feel about this holiday. I LOVE love, and I’d call myself a hopeless romantic. Who doesn’t love an excuse to do something sweet and thoughtful? BUT part of thinks the card companies and interwebs have turned Valentine’s Day into a sort of competition- who can spend the most/make the grandest gesture/who can use social media to brag the most about what their significant other bought or did for them? So, I try to focus on making my partner FEEL loved (today and everyday) rather than spending a ton of money… and here’s how I did it!

 

I made handmade Valentines!  AND I only spent a few bucks (and a few hours) doing it. Some of them include inside jokes, or mean something to us. For example, B LOVES Breaking Bad, and is always quoting Yoda, so those are two I included. We also can NEVER find the grater in the kitchen. Somehow it’s always disappearing, so I made sure to include one with a picture of a grater. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out!

I wish I could take all the credit for these, but I was definitely inspired by Pinterest, as usual. But I am proud of myself for becoming more creative in recent weeks. It’s been hard when B is out of town, I often feel sad and lonely. But, we’ve known this was going to be hard, so I’m trying to be proactive, and channel that energy into something positive. So far, so good!

AND lucky me got my own little dose of romance last night! 🙂

B has been working out of town for a couple weeks. This is, by far, the longest we’ve ever been apart. He wasn’t due home until next weekend, and knowing this weekend would be especially hard with Valentine’s day, I made a plan to have dinner with my friends at their home in Baltimore. We had just finished eating and were sitting around the table drinking wine, and there’s a loud knock at the door. Honestly, we were all startled, it sounded like a police knock! My friend’s husband walks to the door, and in walks B!!! I was in shock. I didn’t even know what to think. In fact- I had just been venting to my friends about how difficult the past few weeks have been and there he was!

B and I get to talk a couple times a day, but the phone isn’t his preferred method of communication, to say the least. He communicates much more through actions than words, and being far away from each other of course does not allow for that. This aspect of our relationship has been a BIG learning curve for me. Learning to look for love in his actions rather than hearing  it through his words as much. People prefer to give and receive love in different ways. I always knew this on some level, but I truly learned about it through a FANTASTIC book called The Five Love Languages . I really can’t recommend it highly enough. There’s even a quiz so you and your partner can see what your preferred languages are. So, B doesn’t verbalize his feelings as much as I’m used to. My last relationship was all talk and no follow through, come to think of it. There were these grand romantic gestures, but my ex never lived up to the promises he made me. Although B and I have our communication challenges at time, I truly believe this is going to make us stronger, and gives us the opportunity to work on something that doesn’t come easily to us. I know I’m in the right relationship because we are able to notice each other’s flaws and work through them together, and that’s just what we are doing!

Alas, B had to leave this morning. But all that travelling for just a few hours together? It really meant the world to me. Sometimes, actions really do speak louder than words. It was so great to have some time together and be able to reconnect. I feel so lucky that we found each other and I’m confident that together we will get through this.

Enjoy today with your loved ones, wherever they may be!