Of the special days and events that trigger heavy feelings over the loss of Simon, Valentine’s Day is NOT one of them. Simon absoutely hated all things commercialized and corporate. If it smelled of marketing, if it sounded like a salespitch, if it looked like big business – he was out. He loathed McDonald’s. He avoided Disneyland. He would rather forgo a meal or eat leftovers than go to Chili’s. So Valentine’s Day was, naturally, the antithesis of love. Flowers that were normally $10 would spike to $50. Restaurants that were usually sparse would have lines out the door. I’m nowhere near as stringent as he was in this mindset, but I agreed that Valentine’s Day wasn’t for us. There were 364 other days we could show our love without Cupid or Hallmark telling us otherwise. Plus, my birthday is three days after Valentine’s Day. So I always let him off the hook on the 14th but kept up expectations for the 17th!

Here’s a picture of us last year on Valentine’s Day. We went to the gym. It was a Friday night and we had the place to ourselves! We watched a movie with the kids at home afterwards. For us, it was just right.