Be My Valentine

Being the sappy in-love-with-love kind of girl that I am, I was surprised to discover one thing I didn't know about St. Valentine. He's buried in Dublin.

I embarrassingly have to admit I never made a connection of Valentine's Day and Ireland. As the story goes,  St. Valentine is the patron saint of lovers, executed in Rome in the 3rd century. In 1835, an Irish priest, Fr John Spratt, was given permission to exhume his remains and take them home to Ireland, where he was buried in the Carmelite Church on Whitefriar Street in Dublin. Every year, on February 14, lovers (and those who have lost love or seek to find it) visit St. Valentine's shrine.

One day early in February, Aidan told me there was a whole spread in a local paper pertaining to Irish traditions of love and Valentine's Day and how he wanted to read it to me over Skype. Now, I love to hear Aidan tell me stories, and I love it when Aidan sings. I had not yet heard Aidan read. I was, needlesstosay, excited at the thought. A while later, we found ourselves together once again over Skype and I saw that Aidan had this paper. He said to me, "Are you ready!? Are you sitting down? Are you buckled in? Here we go..." This man just cracks me up. He is so animated and joyful. 

"I'm ready! I'm buckled in! Hit me with it!" I laughed.

Sure enough, my sweet Irishman proceeded to read to me from this newspaper all about Valentine's Day. It was the most romantic moment for me ever. I hung on his every word ... stared at him reading intently and flipping through pages, his eyes lighting up at one topic or another, wanting to share all of it with me. My face began to hurt from smiling. It was as if the rest of the world didn't exist, just Aidan and I in this sappy moment together. I was thankful for it. I kept thinking as he read, how blessed I felt to have him in my life, and what joy the future holds. He just .. plain ... makes me happy.

As Valentine's Day approached, I lamented over the fact that the package I mailed across the big pond may not arrive on Aidan's doorstep in time. I discovered after mailing something for Christmas that once a parcel leaves Chicago, the tracking is no longer available and I'm just left hanging. A part of me longed to be with Aidan on Valentine's Day, surely, but I knew somehow we'd make it special even across the miles, over Skype. And as I sat daydreaming that morning with my coffee, still in my toasty pajamas, a knock came upon the front door. When I answered it, there stood an older gentleman holding a large wrapped floral delivery!

It was a miracle my legs held me up because getting flowers on Valentine's Day all the way from Ireland from Aidan completely melted me. What a sweet, sweet guy he is!! And holy cow, what a GORGEOUS bouquet of roses. We may be 3000 miles apart, but Aidan always makes every day special for me -- and Valentine's Day was just over the top! We were able to Skype a few times as well, which I am so thankful for. It's definitely the next best thing to being together.

I love that I am learning so much from Aidan, and that he inspires me to grow. I've spent too many years in my life with so much of my true self hidden away .. Ignoring the things I loved to do, places I wanted to go, languages I was dying to learn.... I feel like Aidan has awakened in me who I should have been all along. It feels good to finally be awake. As silly as it sounds, I've missed the old me. It's nice to have her back. It's kind of like finding your old favorite pair of jeans, putting them on, and realizing how perfect and happy you feel in them, wondering why the heck you haven't been wearing them all along. I'm so thankful that, unbeknownst to Aidan, he helped me find my old favorite jeans again. <3