Travelling Valentine's

One of the best things about moving to DC is that I don't have to travel as much. For 3 months from mid-January until mid-April, I was scheduled to be gone for 25 days. Since it was usually DC that I was travelling to, that 25 days is now down to 4. This seems like a silly thing, but was actually a big selling point in taking the job. I knew that I would be working a lot of long hours this year, but I felt that if I always got to come home to my family, that somehow made it better. This may be blatant justification of a decision I already wanted to make, but I prefer not to have that sort of insight into my own mind.

Right now, however, is the 4 days that I'm away from them and it overlaps a fairly important day: February 14th. In general, I can't stand Valentine's Day, and not just because I never got sent a candy gram in high school even though I put some pretty significant hints out there and Chris York of all people got one and he had a lazy eye that twitched slightly and....it's not important. I figure, show your love the other 364 days of the year and you don't have to get blindsided by this holiday so soon after Christmas (seriously, what happens to January every year?). Still, there's something about not even being there while every one else is having lobster thermidor and crab legs (thank you Peter for the references), that doesn't seem right. So on this awful holiday, I'm feeling a little sentimental.

I love my wife; she is fantastic. The whole reason we are here in DC this year is because of her unselfish decision to be a stay-at-home Mom, while I pursue a great career opportunity. We've been friends every since we met in the 6th grade, which, if you do the math (sorry, hon), is 20 years of having my most favorite person in my life. She's a super cook, is an amazing mom and has a great sense of humor. I run out of superlatives pretty quickly when talking about her and I've never really liked using a thesaurus. You stupefy me? Sounds like a Harry Potter jinx. Anyway, for someone like her to be with someone like me, who thinks declaring his love on a mushy blog for the world to throw up at, is something that never gets old. It's tough being away from someone like her, especially on a day dedicated to love.

I guess in my old age my feelings on this holiday have softened, along with my teenage angst (really though, Chris?). While I still feel you should show your love every day, it's fun to have a reason to go overboard every once in a while. Happy Valentine's day Jenn, I love you.