I’m personally not a fan. Valentine’s Day has been historically unkind to me. On that day I’ve been forgotten, fought with, and even cheated on. Okay, technically the cheating didn’t occur on the 14th, but that was when it was revealed so it’s all about the same to me.

When hubby and I got together I made it very clear to him that I do not celebrate Valentine’s Day. It didn’t matter that he was amazing and would have loved to shower me with wonderful gifts, I wanted none of it. I even made it clear that should he propose on Valentine’s Day I would say no. He waited and popped the question on the 16th.

Even now that I’m married I chose to continue ignoring V-Day. Sure, I have a sweetie who would still love to shower me with wonderful gifts, but why should either of us be pressured to perform on a specific day because some zombie corporation can make an extra buck. Not to mention the number of people, women specifically, who are left feeling somehow less when they go through the day without getting a stupid box of chocolates or generic bouquet. That’s just not cool.

So here’s the deal. Valentine’s Day sucks. Instead of making it about romantic love let’s make this year about an unconditional love. Let’s love on people around us who need it. Buy a few dozen carnations and hand them out at the store to everyone you pass. Take a big box of chocolate to the office and share it with your coworkers. Leave cards under the wipers of your neighbors’ cars.

Valentine’s Day isn’t going away. I know, I’ve tried to get rid of it for quite a while. I can’t beat it so I’m joining but I’m sharing the love with more than just my family. Join me?

Apparently when hubby and BIL were outside this afternoon playing football with the kids the keys fell out of his unsecured pocket. Unfortunately he had no idea when exactly that happened so he could only tell us that they should be somewhere in the common area (about the size of a big backyard). This was complicated by the fact that they had trampled over and around the entire area which had then been covered by even more snow.

Hubby started by searching spots he knew he’d tackled BIL while I started kicking through the snow at the base of the big king-of-the-hill type pile the plows had built at the end of the driveway. Finding nothing I grabbed the broom and swept around it a couple times while hubby crawled through it just to double check. When we still hadn’t found anything I started out across the field of play. After the first pass across I was sweating in my big down coat and started unsnapping the top to let the breeze down the back of my neck. By the time I finished the second pass I pushed my hat off my ears and neck.

I continued on a few more times sweeping my way from driveway to sidewalk while hubby dug through the end zones with his flashlight. As I took a breath and repositioned the flashlight against the broomstick so it would shine on the snow as I pushed it around I saw that the snow removal crew had returned. A truck was plowing a neighboring driveway and a group of three or four men were making their rounds with their shovels. I pondered approaching them for assistance but decided I wasn’t that desperate just yet while secretly hoping that they’d see us, be overcome by curiosity and after hearing our tale of woe offer to help us.

While imagining a small crew of men digging out the common area for me I began another pass but my rescue fantasy was interrupted halfway through by a flicker of something black under my broom. Swishing over the spot one more time revealed the lost keys.

It ended up taking us only about 15 minutes searching to find them so I was glad I insisted on helping. Now we just need to get the keys back to my sister and her husband over an hour drive away. They said they’d meet us halfway tomorrow and owe us big time. We’re wondering about the key fob on the chain offering a reward if we mail it in. Hmm, spend gas money and time to drive the keys back and get a big hug or drop them in the mailbox at the end of the drive and get a thank you hopefully in the form of a little money.

Sometimes it sucks being a good person.