My husband and I are not big on celebrating Valentine’s Day because we like to think we show love to each other all year long. J Sometimes we celebrate the day after Valentine’s Day so we can go buy the clearance chocolate. Still, we try and do something simple, like cook a steak dinner after the kids go to bed or bake a delicious dessert that has chocolate in it. 

I started dating my wife while we were in college. Like any dutiful boyfriend I began to make plans for our first Valentine’s Day when Lisa informed me that she wouldn’t be available for a date on February 14^th. It was her roommate’s birthday and several of their friends planned a birthday party for her. Lisa said she would make it up to me by cooking me dinner on February 15^th. She enlisted her friends to dress as waiters and we shared a romantic dinner for two in a common room in her dorm. I was so caught up in the moment that I proposed to her that night. I had been planning to ask Lisa to marry me and was working on an elaborate proposal scheme, but that night just seemed right. I didn’t even have a ring yet, but she said yes. We’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day on February 15^th ever since.

The opposite of love, said Pope St John Paul II, is not hate, but indifference or to use somebody.