Valentine's Day

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, many girls are looking forward to a romantic evening with their significant others while their guys are dreading having to spend money on a fake holiday. Quite frankly, I would have to say that I am with the male population on this one! So many girls make such a big deal about what their boyfriend is expected to get or do for them on Valentine's day. But at the end of the day, a big percentage of these girls actually end up disappointed because they didn't receive that new Tiffany's key heart necklace they wanted or their boyfriends forgot to make reservations at the fancy Italian restaurant that is now booked for the evening. Where did all of these expectations come from? Before I make any conclusions about what I believe is a bogus holiday, I did some research and found out that there actually was a Saint Valentine which is the reason we celebrate Valentine's day. 


Apparently the story goes that St. Valentine was performing marriages during a time when Roman Emperor Claudius II was banning them. The Emperor believed that single males were more likely to enroll in the army at that time so he banned marriages. St. Valentine was the only one brave enough to go against his rule and performed marriages anyways. St. Valentine was sentence to death on February 4th 270 and it wasn't until 1537 that King Henry VII declared February 14th an official holiday to honor the brave St. Valentine. Who knew there was such history dedicated to this day! Now it sort of makes sense why we spend it with the ones we love but shouldn't it be more about the sacrament of marriage instead of going out to eat with our boyfriends/girlfriends? I believe if I would have known St. Valentine, he would have never imagined that what he was doing would turn into such a superficial holiday full of spending money on fancy dinners or pumping money back into the economy in forms of gold necklaces and diamond rings. He would probably actually be appalled knowing that we still honor his holiday in a society where the divorce rate is at 75% and climbing! So maybe instead of spending the time and effort in trying to find the perfect valentines day bouquet or fancy bottle of wine, we put our efforts into fixing our marriages and actually celebrate the meaning of what this holiday was intended for!   

Surprise!

So I have been carrying around this huge secret since July and it feels so good to finally get it off my chest because I am the worst liar ever! I have been planning my parents surprise anniversary party that took place last weekend. My brother and I, with the help of some family members, rented out a room at a restaurant and successfully pulled off the biggest surprise of the century! If you knew my parents you would know how hard this is because they are so noisy! My brother is not a very good liar either so this was extremely hard for both of us but we did it and it was definitely worth it! My family really came together and everyone was so helpful, I could not be more grateful to be surrounded by so many great people!

Mom and dad, we finally got ya :) They have been married for twenty five years!! I cannot even fathom being together with anyone for that long! It amazes me that my parents have been together since high school! I can't imagine being married to my high school boyfriend, I am sure it would have been short lived. But what is the matter with society that being together forever is so unheard of these days? What happened to 'til death do us part'? Divorce is such a common occurrence these days that it makes you really appreciate marriage when you come across couples that have stuck it out!