Valentine's Reminders

I was reminded of 5 things on Valentine's Day this year:

#1 - I have the best husband on the planet. Everyone knows I'm crazy about John, but we have this amazing relationship and marriage, and it just keeps getting better. As a surprise, he got us a room at the Meikles hotel for the night. This is the classiest hotel in the country and it was marvelous! Our room was so fancy and had a shower and satellite t.v. and complimentary chocolates and orange juice. We also had a Valentine's 5 course Dinner with live music and roses on our table. It was SO romantic, and a wonderful mini vacation. We even swam in the pool that was on the roof. Man, I love my husband - we share an extravagant love.

#2 - Love never grows old. I was talking with a retired Salvation Army Colonel the day before Valentine's and asking if she had any plans. She laughed and said that she and her husband have been married for 53 years - and that Valentine's day is for young people like me. I argued with her that it's never too late for romance. On Valentine's I asked if anything had happened. She said she gave her husband a kiss and a hug and then giggled like a school girl. It was so cute!

#3 - Valentine's day can be stressful for men. I was asking some of the young guys at our church what they had planned for Valentine's. They said that their plan was to turn their cell phones off and then blame "poor network" the next day.

#4 - Valentine's day can be stressful for women. I was talking with a 21 year old today. She is HIV+ and has recently had a stroke and can't walk. But her main worry is that not a single guy called her for Valentine's. She wonders if she will ever have a boyfriend.

#5 - STDs are bad. On Valentine's day just before lunch I was at the 20 year review of officers (I'll write more about this in another post) and we were having a session on family life. The presenter was mostly talking about the importance of romance, but also discouraging "small houses" (affairs). She said she thought that the best way to discourage small houses was to show a video about sexually transmitted diseases. So we all watched graphic images of men and women's private parts with various infections and diseases. How romantic!