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Valentine's Day... The supposed universal day of love... I say "supposed" because I spent three years in Japan, and it definitely does not hold the same connotations as it does here in the United States... lots of "obligation chocolates" in that country... but I digress...
Day of love...Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday, and I went to Church. At the end of mass, the priest had all the married couples stand to receive a blessing. I saw this older couple, and how they held hands and it moved me...
...When I think of love, I realize that I was raised with such great examples of it, which makes me an incredibly lucky girl. I've seen and experienced and received so much love that it's not hard to love others in return... And on Valentine's Day, reflecting on the love that I've seen throughout my life amazes me.
I think of my parents...who, after thirty some odd years of marriage, still hold hands where ever they go; who go crazy if they spend more than a few days apart, but keep pushing because they have to; who still light up like children on Christmas morning when seeing each other for the first time after being away from each other for any amount of time; who can enjoy each other's company no matter what, no matter where, no matter when; who are still as much in love now as they were when they were married (if not more).
Their story is amazing. My mother and father were both engaged to marry other people before they met one day, at a mutual friend's party. They both still tell me that they felt a spark at that first meeting, but both of them were in long distance relationships at the time so they just kind of ignored it...
I don't know the timeline exactly, but some time after they met, both their relationships kind of imploded and a year later, my single dad (his ex-fiancee had married someone else) was invited to go with a friend who was going to see this girl who happened to have three pretty sisters. My dad found himself at a house and was surprised to see that my single mother (she had called off her wedding the year before) was one of the sisters that his friend had talked about. And so their courtship began. They were engaged about a year and a half later, and married six months after that.
Together, they raised three awesome chilgren (what? we are! hahaha), and made this life together filled with laughter, love, and adventure... Yes, adventure. They've risked moving to Hawaii, Vegas, and now Korea. Each time, a leap that not most people would consider doing, but something they knew they wouldn't mind, as long as they were making the leap together. My mom says now, even though she misses her dream house in Vegas, she'd take the one bedroom apartment they live in now with their tiny ass bathroom where she can do dishes in the shower and do laundry all at the same time...all because it's where my dad is.
They are from a different generation that most people are really not all that familiar with. They were chaperoned their entire courtship (and it WAS an actual courtship), which meant their very first just-the-two-of-them date was on their wedding night (to Pizza Hut! haha). They never lived together before marrying, which meant they had a LOT of adjusting to do when they moved in together... there are sooo many things that sometimes drives my mom nuts (like, my dad wakes up suuuuper early in the morning, but lounges around til the last minute and then is late for work and stuff) but they both knew that saying, "I do," meant forever, for better or worse, just like their vows said. And they both know that all the bad is completely worth all the good, because they love with all that they are and all that they have. They are each other's best friend, partner, and love. No matter what, it is them against the world.
My parents, through their love for each other, showed me and my brother and sister what kind of love to strive for... They teach me every single day that by loving each other so truly and deeply, your heart opens wider and wider to include everyone else in your life; that when you love, you can never run out, but only have more to give...
It's a different world we live in now; so incredibly different from the world my parents knew...Sometimes, it's so hard to believe that their kind of love can still exist out there among the younger generation... But then I remember my brother and my sister...and their wife and their husband, and the families they've made... and I know that it does. And with God's grace, a little luck, and a bit of wisdom and fearlessness, it will for me some day...
For now, I will just keep opening my heart to keep loving as my parents have so generously and enthusiastically taught me to do...
Happy Valentine's Day... from my heart to yours... :)
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