How love has changed.

When we were first married, I thought it was my job to maintain high expectations.  Obviously, I took all my cues on what those expectations should be from culture.  Clearly, the movies I had watched and the books I had read had realistic ideas about how a couple should live, especially in that idyllic first year of marriage. Oh my.

I'm pretty sure our first Valentine's Day was crazy, not just because it was our first but also because we had just found out we were going to be parents.  The panic of the moment put brakes on my "everything must be perfect" approach to our first year of marriage.  Thank goodness.

Fast-forward four years to yesterday.  I didn't obsess about making the day perfect.  I didn't even worry about making Valentine's Day romantic.  I just wanted to love well.  Loving Teacher Man as he would be loved best.  He came home after a long day of working, 10 hours of on-your-feet teaching, thinking, working.  While the following wouldn't make every man happy, I knew what would make him happy.

I bathed the kids.  He chilled.

I did the dishes.  He read stories with Caleb.

I cleaned the kitchen.  He worked on fixing a computer.

I picked up the house.  He looked for good deals on computer parts.

And as we did this, we talked.  We laughed.  And we loved each other well.

It wasn't candy or roses.  It was love.  And it was what he needed, which was what we needed.  Happy Valentine's Day.