Valentines Day

Saint Valentine was a Roman priest who was apprehended for aiding Christians, who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome. Helping Christians at this time was considered a crime. They tried to make him renounce his faith to which he refused and was then beaten and beheaded on February 14, 270. SO yeah, let's CELEBRATE!

I have no idea how it became such an Americanized money making holiday. Seriously! It started as a celebration feast in remembrance of Saint Valentine. And it would make so much sense if he was the Saint who represented love or companionship, right? Nope, he stood for strength and a couple of other things I don't remember and don't feel like googling right now.

Whatever, Love is great and it's worth celebrating. I love hearts. I love candy. I love warm fuzzies. Bring it on. Why not?

I think this is the first Valentine's Day of my life that I have celebrated it with someone I really truly love romantically. What's more is that I'm really starting to understand what a healthy relationship and being in love should be like. Obviously, love isn't about the things Nic bought me to celebrate today, and it isn't about the (amazing) meal I made for him. Okay, maybe it's about the Oreo pudding pie that's in the fridge that we've yet to dig into... kidding.

Love, to me, is when Nic is sick and I stay up with him until four in the morning to help him puke. It's when I'm in the emergency room and he drives three hours to come see me. It's when I alphabetize the books on his shelf for no reason (okay, that one might just be me being OCD). It's when he is patient with me and my spacey, oblivious and forgetful tendencies. It's when I pretend to care about football. It's when he holds me accountable to the goals I set for myself and helps me achieve them. It's when we are there for each other through anything and support each other in anything we want to do. It's about working as a team, each of us bringing different things to the table - still being ourselves, but also one unit, in a way.

Let's not forget how COMFORTABLE I am with him. He has me down to a science in a way that nobody else ever has. He knows all the things I'm allergic to and all of the things you can usually find those ingredients in. My immediate family can't even do that most of the time (I love you, but it's true). He knows all of the teeny tiny things that annoy me or make me cranky and doesn't do any of them. It is SOOO easy to annoy me, and he never has. He lets me be an extreme elitist coffee snob. He totally understands that I have wacko OCDish methods of doing everything from grocery shopping to eating Skittles and he doesn't care. He knows the exact kinds of things in movies that are liable to give me nightmares (I'm a wimp) and how to drive so that I don't get jumpy (I hate being in cars). Bottom line, I'm super particular about everything. Yeah, pretty much everything and he doesn't care, in fact, he supports me doing things in my own weird ways and he never makes me feel stupid about it.

He loves me for me, and I still can't really believe it.

It feels good to have him on my side because I love him and have so much respect for him. It is an honor to even know Nic, let alone to be dating him.