My Valentine

When I was in grade school, the only way I got any recognition on Valentine's Day was when it was enforced, sort of like voting in communist countries where people are forced to go to the polls.  Thankfully, the delivery of Valentines was more democratic, with everyone getting one from every other student of the opposite gender.  I quickly disabused myself of the notion that these were anything but mandatory Valentines and didn't put much stock in them.

High school and college were a veritable drought for this holiday.  I'd see everyone else getting them and knew, just knew, that I wouldn't be getting one, and I was right.  For me, Valentine's Day became a Hallmark holiday, something that was trumped up for sales of mushy cards, smelly flowers and chocolates ruined with jellies pumped into them.

A few years ago, my life changed irrevocably.  I met the love of my life, the darling of my heart.  I knew it from the moment I first talked with her.  When we left each other, I was shaking.  It was that powerful.  And from that day, I've had but one dream:  To live for the rest of time with this woman.

Karen makes every day happier, brighter.  She is the most generous, most giving woman I've ever known. She always does things for me just because.  She'll bake this or that, make this or that meal, just because she thinks I'll like it.  She's as thoughtful a person as I've ever known.

Lest anyone think I have this woman wrapped around my finger, she does the same thing for others.  Last night she went out to buy candies for her coworkers so they'd have something nice when they came in today. That's just the kind of person she is.  She's the best person anyone will ever know.

I love her not only because she's intelligent, fun, beautiful, caring, thoughtful, sensitive, humorous, energetic, strong, playful and many other wonderful things.  I love her because of her inherent goodness, how she makes the world a better place just by being in it.

Somehow, some way, she's decided to share her life with me.  I am the luckiest guy on the face of the earth as a result.  No matter how bad things are going for me, all I have to do is take one look at that beautiful face and know that I'm already ahead of the game.

She's made me a better person and continues to encourage me to better myself.  She's supportive and confident in me.  Having lacked that for the better part of my life, it's a breath of fresh air, albeit a little disconcerting, to have this round the clock.

Make no mistake:  We have our fights.  Some are doozies.  With her Scots background and my Irish background, what would one expect?  But in the end, we realize that each of us loves the other, and compromises are made.  Given that we've met each other later in life, we had our routines already developed when we fell in love, so we had to recognize what was truly more important.

I don't want to consider my life without Karen in it.  The only regret I have is that we didn't meet sooner.  I love her thoroughly, completely and honestly.  I am inadequate when it comes to describing just how and how much I love this woman.

So today, the day traditionally held out for slackers who forget the other days of the year are for love, too, I ask my sweetheart if she'll be my Valentine again.  That's my selfish request.

I tell her, at the same time, that she's my getaway car, my true companion, my forever, my one more day, my dance, my morning yearning, my promise.  I'm all in, tangled up in her, making memories of us, sure that there's no place that far, wanting to grow old with her.  Come on, come on.  It is you, sweetheart, whom I adore and love with every part of my being.

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart.

(c) 2014 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles