My Valentine

Valentine's day is just another commercial holiday, where retailers rake in cash making all of us feel guilty if we didn't buy Valentines for our kids classes and hand out little heart candies and send flowers to everyone we love.  It's a time for some to brag about how sweet their Valentine is while others harbor resentment if they didn't get sent a box of chocolates or a dozen roses.  The whole thing is really absurd.  Early in our marriage, Nathan would send flowers on Valentine's day.  It was nice, but not nearly as nice as just coming home to him every night. 

Valentine's Day 1995 sticks out in my mind particularly.  Nathan sent flowers to my office.  It was his first day of work for Mountain Fuel as a meter reader.  I sat at my desk in the alternative high school and watched it blizzard all day long.  I looked at those flowers and thought of him and I felt terrible.  The route that was supposed to take three or four hours took like seven.  He came home exhausted and half-frozen.  It was not a good day.  It is, however, a very apt metaphor for our lives.

Nathan is the one who will work to no end, pay any price for a little comfort for our family.  This Valentine's day he is working again.  The phone just rang, and it was him checking in because he forgot his cell phone.  No amount of flowers or candy or cards could express how grateful I am for him.  This year has been a killer for us.  I look back at the trials that have come our way, and I wonder how we have survived.  For me, at least, the answer is him.  I can face almost anything if I can face it with him. 

I remember when I was in young women's and we made a list of qualities we wanted in a future spouse.  Did you all do that?  Some of the things I wrote down were important, like "worthy of the temple," but others were not, "likes to dance" (oh, ha ha ha on that one!).  Mostly, I had it all wrong.  What I thought I wanted, and what I actually got were different.  This is where I have to recognize the hand of the Lord in my life, because he gave me a man that was far greater than I knew to wish for.  So, this is a very abbreviated list of things I am grateful for in my husband. 

I am grateful to have a husband who:
--plays with our kids
--loves me despite all my weaknesses
--does dishes and laundry when I get lazy
--has a smile that can light up a room
--is a wonderful story-teller and can make anyone laugh
--is always sincere
--has a gift for empathy and can see things from someone else's point of view
--is kinder than anyone I know
--is so generous that he always overspends on birthdays and Christmas, while expecting very little for himself
--is the hardest working person I have ever met
--has never discouraged my dreams or goals
--puts family before all else
--is faithful and humble
--takes care of himself and looks so dang good after 15 years, that I feel very guilty that I'm not more like him!
--most importantly, is the one that I know I can love every day for the rest of my life and all through eternity.

Thank you, Nathan.  There is no one in the world like you!