Valentine's Day

"How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being an ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,--I love thee with the Breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death."

Elizabeth Barret Browning

First, I just want to let you know neither of us is hoping God chooses to love each other better after death, it just happens to be one of my favorite poems. Secondly, I want to let you know that this is the first poem I ever tried to memorize (besides the "Roses are red" gimmick). This is the first year I have been able to recite it. Thirdly, it TOTALLY beats the "love" poem I received from one of the kids I worked with three years ago: "Violets are blue, and Roses are red. I'm glad you come to see me, even though I'm a pain in the ass sometimes, and I'm glad you're not dead (most days)." Ah, he was a character. And with ringing endorsements like that, who wouldn't love working with him?! :)

Well, as you may have guessed, the day of LUUUURVE just passed us by. Many of you have been questioning us as to what we did to celebrate this holiday. It was a fun and all too short day for us, really. I had to work during the day (it's good to note in the restaurant biz that it's more typically mistresses during the day and wives at night, so plan to work your tables accordingly to get the biggest amounts of tips possible), and right after work I met up with Jaye to pick up my dress from David's Bridal. May God bless the woman who helped me try on my dress, check every bead and seam, and pull every piece of lint and fuzz from it's beauty (it took us a lot longer in David's than I had ever thought it would... I definitely feel like I had my first official [and hopefully last] Bridezilla moment).

Jeff and I finished the evening in true Valentine's Day style: We ate a delicious homecooked dinner of steak and butternut squash over a bouquet of roses (Jeff is quite the cook), drank some wine, exchanged jewelry, played some Wii, and ate Andre's chocolates. Also exchanged were cards saying mushy stuff like "Your dreams are now my dreams, fiance, they are now OUR dreams" and "When I see old people walking and holding hands, after all those years and all those experiences together, I can't wait for it to be us with a lifetime of love behind it." We also added a photo frame to our new end table with the words "When two people fall in love, the whole world can see it" (I'm assuming it's supposed to hold a picture of us... the picture of the people in the frame currently freak me out and I don't know why they are in a frame in our home).

Overall, I feel like we definitely went back into the "Bubble" we had created for ourselves over the Engaged Encounters weekend, the "Bubble" where the outside world doesn't exist and it is only us in the moment. It was absolutely, wonderously perfect in every way.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!!