Lifestyle

While February 14 is traditionally a romantic holiday, for many, Valentine’s Day memories also involve families, loss, humor and life-changing events. We asked Womeninc readers to share their Valentine’s Day stories, good and bad, and here’s what they had to say:

Our wedding was February 11, 1989 so we had been married three whole days. My husband wanted me to do laundry because it was the only day it would work out that week. So, he disappears while I’m at the laundromat and comes back two hours later with a heart shaped pizza. The problem: He had chosen a pizza place that takes forever and also picked a busy night to try to be romantic and it backfired on him. I was upset by the time he finally came back because the laundry was totally done, I didn’t know where he was going and he took the car leaving me stranded doing laundry on Valentine’s Day. I was just supposed to say “Wow, thanks for the romantic Valentine’s gift.” (Needless to say, that’s NOT what I said, but I did try not to yell at him too much.) Every once in awhile he asks me if I want a heart shaped from that pizza place. I politely decline.
-Joan

February 14 is as special as Christmas Day for me as my son, Michael, was born on Valentine’s Day. I always teased him that I was going to name him, Valentino. Of course anything else that happens to me on this day will always take a back seat to this event!
-Cheryl

My dad worked at GM as a lineman and would be gone when we woke up in the morning. On Valentine’s Day there would always be three small heart-shaped boxes that held four chocolates, one for each of my sisters and me. The large box heart in the middle was for my mom. We always knew we were each special and loved. We all miss those days.
-Caroline

On Valentine’s night in 2006, my husband was working and received a message saying, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but we’ve received seven calls telling us that your house is on fire.” I had my phone on the charger in the car and after finishing my errands, I finally noticed that I had 17 messages—many of them from him. When he didn’t reach me, he began to worry that I had been in the house when the fire started. By the time we both arrived, we were shocked to see that the house was completely destroyed, but at the same time felt thankful we were okay and no one had been hurt. We spent the night with friends and the next day I went to the store to buy some clothes and other necessities. The store was busy. I had to get back to meet with the fire marshal. The friends that had come to help me with the shopping needed to get going, so I was left alone in the check-out line with my heaping cart. As I waited for a price check on one of the items, I told the clerk that my house had burned down. Someone waiting behind me must have heard, because when the clerk gave the total, a woman in line passed her debit card forward and said, “Here, use this. I have a house.” The generosity of family, friends and complete strangers taught me a valuable lesson: The best things in life are not things.
-Liza

The last year I was married to my first husband we went to dinner and when I came home, there was a path of candles and rose petals to a bubble bath and bottle of wine in our master bathroom. In the bedroom, there was a new bed spread with rose petals and candles all over and he had bought a ceiling-full of helium I Love You balloons. It was extremely sweet and romantic—until I later found that his girlfriend helped him do it all.  Now I can laugh about it—but it is my most memorable Valentine’s Day.

I hear people say things like, “I wish I had never married him (or her).” But I think that is the wrong way to look at things. I see it as a time that made me a stronger person, better able to appreciate something good when God gave it to me.
-Marilyn