My Valentine

"Love consists in this: that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other."
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

• He parks in the street so that I can park in the garage, because I'm the girl, and because I'm the one who gets the groceries.
• More often than not, he's the one who gets the groceries lately.
• When he goes to the grocery store, he brings me a flower "just because."
• He sings to me, usually songs that he makes up on the spot.
• When I was in the hospital, nauseated and throwing up, he hummed "Red River Valley" to me to help me go to sleep, because my mother used to sing that to me when she tucked me in. He hummed it because he doesn't know the words.
• He tucks me in at night.
• If he's not going to be home, he leaves a light on for me.
• No matter where he is, he calls me every night before he goes to sleep to tell me goodnight.
• He calls me several times a day just to say hello, and see how my day is going, and he always tells me he loves me.
• I'm still his sweetheart after almost 30 years.
• He thinks I'm beautiful even when I haven't washed my face or brushed my hair, and am still wearing my bathrobe.
• Every morning when I leave for work, he tells me I look pretty.
• He cleans the garage. He vacuums. He loads and unloads the dishwasher.
• He does his own laundry.
• Sometimes he does my laundry.
• If we're going somewhere and we stop for gas, he always buys me something to drink when he goes inside to pay.
• He went to the library and picked up books for me the day I got out of the hospital.
• He's a much better cook than I am, and he cooks for me sometimes.
• He cooked for me all week the first week I got out of the hospital after my surgery.
• My favorite thing that he cooks is Eggs Benedict. He makes perfect Hollandaise sauce.
• He dotes on the cats, and will take them to the vet when they need to go.
• He sings to them, especially Dinah, even when she hisses at him.
• He carries Pyewacket around like a baby.
• When I come home from work, he hears me come in, and he comes downstairs, and he's always glad to see me.
• When I'm meeting him somewhere, and he sees me, his eyes light up.
• He puts up with me, even though I'm not always an easy person to live with.
• He always tells me everything will be alright. And it always is.
• He's my Valentine.

My Valentine flowers