The true meaning of Valentine's Day came from the worst one

To be honest, I've never had a Valentine's Day that knocked my socks off. It always seemed like my relationships had run their course by the time ValD arrived.

My story isn't mine as much as it is my DBF's story. As such, I'm not sure how to share it. The take-away for me isn't "don't it suck that I've never had a good ValD" but rather, "cherish your loved ones b/c you never know how long you'll have with them".

DBF and I had been together for 3 months when our first ValD arrived. We planned a quiet at my house: nice dinner, fun movie, romantic "us" time. We weren't at the "I love you" stage yet.

During the movie, DBF got a phone call. He was gone a long time in another room. I was wondering WTH - where is he???

He finally came back to the den, ashen faced. The phone call was from a hospital in CA: his mother had had a massive heart attack in a movie theatre that afternoon. Prognosis was poor.

We spent that ValD preparing him to fly to CA to be at her side. About 2 days later he made the hard decision to remove her from life support. He's an only child and his parents were divorced: he was 100% alone. It really cemented our relationship and showed us what we meant to each other. He told me he loved me for the first time as he prepared to leave for the airport.

We've never celebrated, or even really acknowledged, ValD since that first one early in our relationship. That was 5 years ago tomorrow. I think that he's finally ready to reclaim Valentine's Day from the tragedy that touched it for him 5 years ago. I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be a day of celebraton of his mother, who I never met, and a celebration of us and the couple we've become.

Hug your loved ones close this Valentine's Day.