Valentine’s Day… Is It Important?
By Cambria Root
What’s your opinion on Valentine’s Day? Is it just another day? Is it just an excuse to finally go on a date? Is it a day that you expect your spouse to do something over the top for you? Is it just a day about love that you get to spend with the person you love?
I’m going to be completely honest… We don’t believe Valentine’s Day is a very important holiday. It doesn’t hold much meaning for us, BUT what the holiday symbolizes is. It symbolizes love, specifically doing things that make your spouse feel loved, and connection.
Now, at this point you may be thinking, “It seems pointless and fake to have a day where I’m expected to love my spouse when I’m supposed to be loving them year round.” And to that I would say, you are correct. It is SUPER important to love your spouse ALWAYS, but the reason we still believe Valentine’s Day is still important is because the holiday acts as a good reminder to love your spouse. A wake up call per say. I’m going to give you an example by waking through the 5 Valentine’s Days Noah and I have celebrated since we started dating:
2018
This was our first Valentine’s Day together, and we were dating long distance. I was in Arizona for school and Noah was still back in Colorado. I had no previous experience with Valentine’s Days, since Noah was my first boyfriend, so I decided to go all out. I made him a goodies box full of all his favorite things. Noah’s all time favorite food is chocolate cake, so I sent him a cake mix because I couldn’t figure out how to send him an actual chocolate cake. I also included envelopes with prayers for our relationship. Noah got me the most beautiful blue topaz necklace that I never took off, until the day I lost it. Which leads me to…
2019
This was our first Valentine’s Day that we spent in person together. We were both living in Arizona, and we were engaged at this point. We went shopping for a new necklace, ate dinner out at our favorite restaurant, Oreganos, and I made Noah the most over the top dessert. It was a brownie topped with Reese's ice cream, topped with a chocolate covered strawberry, with chocolate sauce drizzled over.
2020
This was our first Valentine’s Day married. Noah came home with a card and some flowers, which this is a little off topic, but those flowers were awesome. They looked like they were spray painted or something, so they lasted months! We also went on a double date with some of our friends to an improv show.
2021
This year we forgot it was Valentine’s Day until the afternoon of the 14th. We got some steaks and sweet potatoes (my favorite meal!) and ate a nice dinner together.
2022
This year, I know Noah wrote me a card because I have a picture of it, but other than that, neither of us can remember if we even did anything.
Do you see the trend? Each year gets smaller and smaller.
We went all out in 2018 with gifts,
spent 2019 together, but no gifts,
did something in 2020, but there was no intentional time for us,
forgot till the last minute in 2021,
and completely forgot in 2022.
This trend is why I say Valentine’s Day should be a wake up call. We let a day, where we’re supposed to be intentional in our relationship, go completely downhill, and that scared us. We do not want our marriage to be stagnant, or even worse, go downhill because we think it’s silly to put in the work. That’s why we think Valentine’s Day isn’t necessarily an important holiday, but what it symbolizes should be important because it acts as a reminder to continue to be intentional with your marriage so it can stay healthy and not go downhill.
So, we have a challenge for you this week: make a point to do something for your spouse on valentine's day (or sometime this week if you’re reading this after Valentine’s Day) that’s surprising, special, and in your spouse’s love language. And, let us know how it goes! We’d love to hear from y’all!
