Happy Love Day!

The children and I went to the supermarket earlier today, and on the table closest to the door were $50 bouquets of fragrant roses. Hovering above the table was a cloud of helium balloons. Near one register was a shopping cart full of $35 bouquets sans the vase. Love was in the air.

Well, balloons and the fragrance of roses were in the air, anyway. I didn't see a single smile on the face of anyone standing at a cash register with flowers in hand. I will concede the possibility that the price of those flowers could wipe the smile off most faces.

The scent of roses is not in the air here at home (yet...) but love most definitely is in my heart. Here are a few people and things I love in no particular order:

I love irises, tulips, and impatiens.

I love yerba mate tea, juicy novels, and my down comforter.

I love NPR, classical music, and sunny Sunday afternoon drives back home from Asheville.

I love Skirt magazine, O magazine, and reading magazines at the library.

I love email, snail mail, and text messages, especially when they are unexpected.

I love green salad, fresh fruit, almonds, and ice water.

I love milk chocolate pecan turtles, chocolate chip cookies, and key lime pie too.

I love preparing to teach, to speak, and to lead women's retreats.

I love planning to travel: we've got our 20 year reunion at Williams coming up in June.

I love the smell and feel of new babies. I love the delight on the faces of their parents.

I love waking up in the morning without the alarm clock - and staying in bed.

I love food prepared by other people and cleaned up by others.

I love clean laundry and warm socks.

I love floor length robes and LLBean slippers.

I love daffodils, especially when they bloom in February.

I love big bows in little girls' hair and patent leather shoes on their feet.

I love getting a clean bill of health from my OB-GYN and my dentist.

(Speaking of which, this morning I had my annual OB-GYN appointment. My sweet son, Daniel, asked what time I had to be at the "OB-GYW." I asked why he put a W at the end. He said because if there were an M, then men might try to go.
"No, Daniel, it's an N at the end." "Ohhh!"
We both laughed at that one.)

I love silver jewelry, flat shoes, long skirts, turtlenecks, and perfumed oil from SmellGoods.

I love the Christmas carols, listening to the choir sing the Hallelujah Chorus, and the flickering light of 4500 candles in the church sanctuary on Christmas Eve.

I love jelly beans, candy egg hunts, and the sunrise service at Easter.

I love hugs and kisses and gazing into the fire in the fireplace.

I love holding hands and walking at the beach and watching the sunset over the water.

I love the windmills on the hills and the castles on the horizon and the churches in the small towns of Spain.

I love the gelato shop at the bottom of the Spanish Steps and the Galleria Borghese and the view from atop the Castel Sant' Angelo in Rome.

I love the view from the Piazzale Michelangelo, the restaurant on top of the Uffizi gallery, Mario's, that tiny restaurant on the Piazza San Lorenzo in Florence.

I love my true friends. The ones who call, who write, who send music and poetry and postcards. The ones who welcome not only my calls and my missives, but also my rants and my raves. The friends nearby and the friends far, far away. Across physical and literal oceans.
You know who you are. I love you.

I love, adore, cherish, treasure, prize, and delight in my two children, Kristiana and Daniel.

I love my husband, Steve. Today is the 20th anniversary of our first "real date." We've been together for nearly half of our lives! Thank you, Steve, for all of this. I will love you so for always.

Who and what do you love?