FEBRUARY 28-DAY CHALLENGE

Day Seven: Do You Celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Is that still a thing?

When Ed and I began dating, we celebrated it all — birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Chanukah — Valentine’s Day, too. We took great pleasure in finding that perfect gift for each other, and we relished the giving more than the receiving. That worked out well.

In the past, Valentine’s Day did not differ from the other holidays when it came time to celebrate our love. It was just on a smaller scale. I ran around our then apartment. First, I planted kisses and a love message in lipstick on the bathroom mirror, and then I stuck loving sticky notes all over the unit for him to find. Ed cooked me breakfast and bought me my favourite chocolate and roses. We spent our night bonding with candles and oils.

However, love notes didn’t stay exclusive to Valentine’s Day. For years, I vacationed on cruises. Ed chose to stay home. The week-long separation was difficult, so every year before I left for the trip, I wrote him a love letter for every day I’d be gone. Sometimes they were mushy, other times sexy. A couple of them even got downright raunchy. Inside each envelope, I added a token of love, whether it was a food gift card so he’d have food to eat, or some cash, just for the hell of it.