One year for Valentine’s day, the guy I was dating couldn’t go out with me because some of his friends would be in town. They were planning a big get together. We decided to go out later that week to celebrate the holiday. On Valentine’s day, I helped my boyfriend make food, clean his apartment, and get everything ready for his guests. It was a lot of work! The next day, he complained to me how tired he was after driving someone home, six hours round trip. Turns out, he didn’t have friends coming to town, he had one friend, a girl, and it was actually a date! I’d gotten everything ready for my boyfriend’s date with someone else on Valentine’s Day!

I had a bad/great Valentine’s Day a few years back. I broke up with my boyfriend that morning and ended up joining my friends for a girls night out. We went to dinner and watched movies until the wee hours. It was so much fun – no pressure and all laughs. Didn’t even miss the guy I broke up with.

A fun tradition at our house is to heart attack people for Valentine’s day. We decorate as many doors as we can with hearts of all sizes then sneak away so they’ll have a surprise in the morning. We’ve had so much fun doing this!

One of my favorite Valentine’s Days ever was before I moved to Valdez. A youth group I was in made dozens of Valentines and went to a nursing home to visit with the residents, decorate their doors, and pass out Valentines. I loved seeing how happy they were to have visitors and cards made just for them.