Dating My Husband - Valentine's Day edition

My sister posted a picture of a beautiful rose bouquet on her facebook, and then commented, "Roses, TWO boxes of chocolates, dinner and The Hunger Games series. Hooray, Valentine's Day!" To which my other sister and i responded with "i remember the dating days."


It's true, Valentine's Day looks slightly different once there is a Mrs. in front of your name. But that doesn't mean it's less romantic. Over our annual Valentine's Day dinner at Red Lobster i told J, "i'm so glad we're married now on Valentine's day." And here are 3 reasons i feel this way.

1. When J and i were dating and we would go out to dinner, i was always really cautious about what i ate. i would think about how much things cost (since J paid for the majority of our dates and almost 2 years of dating can add up quickly). i would think about how i really wanted to eat another roll, or maybe order dessert, but i didn't want to pig out on food. i would think about where we were going after dinner and how that effected my menu choice. Thoughts like, "Will this upset my stomach later? If it does, will we be in a place where a restroom is close. What if this meal makes me gassy and bloated and the rest of the night i'm uncomfortable and awkward?" Maybe i'm the only one who acted this way, but i wanted to keep whatever good impression J had of me in place as long as possible.

Now that we're married, i eat whatever i want because we're both paying for it. And i don't have to worry about how a certain food may make me feel, because we've been together long enough and i feel comfortable saying, "Hey, my stomach feels uncomfortably full from all that seafood and cheddar biscuits i ate and i'd really like to go home, put on pajama pants and lay on the couch." It's not that i don't care anymore if J still has a good impression of me, which i hope he does! It's that we've moved past the "putting your best foot forward" phase of dating and are in the "comfortable in our own skins with each other" phase of marriage.


2. Married Valentine's Day doesn't have to look completely different from Dating Valentine's Day. No, i didn't get a bouquet of roses and two boxes of chocolate this year. i did get a bouquet of Gerber daisies for my birthday, though. Bless J's pour heart, i know it can't be easy having to do the whole wife's birthday thing, and then 10 days later turn around and do Valentine's Day. He even admitted that he was unsure of what to get me for Valentine's Day since he had already got me flowers. But then i came home and found this cute shirt hanging on our closet door.

We had gone into Old Navy to look for pants for him two weeks ago, and i had found this shirt i thought was really cute. Well, J went back and tried to find it. When he couldn't, he found a similar shirt he thought i would like. He even stated that he picked the red one because he knew he had already got me a navy and white stripped shirt in the past and that i didn't have a lot of red shirts. Now, i know some boyfriends may be that perceptive. But i know that J knows what clothes i like and what i own because we share a closet now and he hangs up a lot of my shirts (i have a bad habit of starting laundry and not finishing it). So a Married Valentine's Day, at least in my case, resulted in a very thoughtful gift from a husband who knows what i like.


3. No kissing goodnight at the front door. No driving home to separate houses. When the Valentine's "date" is over, i still get to spend time with my Valentine. And 3 3/4 years later, that's still my favorite part of being married.


So maybe Married Valentine's Day looks different than Dating Valentine's Day. But i wouldn't change it for the world.