Happy Valentine's Day!
If you celebrate today, here's your friendly reminder to pick up some flowers, buy some chocolates, finish that "100 Reasons I Love You" letter to your life-partner, confirm those dinner reservations (or double-check you have what you need to make a meal worthy of your love), and create that romantic Spotify playlist.
That's only if you celebrate Valentine's Day, of course.
My wife and I won't be doing any of those things.
Many years ago, we both decided Valentine's Day had become too commercial for our tastes. It was great for the economy, and there's certainly nothing wrong with anyone who decides to celebrate the day. It just didn't do anything for us.
So we decided we'd do something different. Instead of celebrating on February 14th, we choose two other days of the year to celebrate instead: the anniversary of the day we had our first date (which is also the day I chose to propose, three years later), and the day we decided to stop seeing other people and "be exclusive". On each of those two days, we find a babysitter for our kids, and head out, just the two of us.
Is that cheesy? Yup. But it's our cheesy.
This isn't any sort of judgment on those of you who love this particular holiday; do what makes you happy!
But it is a challenge for you to think about WHY you love it. And if you realize you're just celebrating because that's what everybody else is doing, well, here's an opportunity to think about what you can do differently.
By the way, when I told you my wife and I don't do anything on Valentine's Day, I should have been more accurate: we don't do anything together.
Several years ago, I started my own Valentine's Day tradition, one that's very special to me and one I plan to keep up for as long as I can.
Every February 14th, around noon, I show up at my daughter's school with some flowers. I have her called down to the office, I ask her if she'll be my valentine, and then I take her (and her sister, who hasn't started school yet) to lunch. Don't worry, we're a very progressive family: my wife does the same thing with our sons.
Is that cheesy? Yup. But it's our cheesy.