Happy Valentine's Day!
by Julie Coulter Bellon
I have a friend who doesn’t like romance novels. She doesn’t like the sappy, sugary, happily ever after stuff. I, on the other hand, am the opposite. I love romantic books that show a couple with potential, with angst, and overcoming it all, end up together. I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for a happy ending and a good romance both in books and in real life.
Most of you know I had an unconventional courtship and romance. I did not date my husband before we got engaged. I met him at BYU and we became friends. I got sick at school and he took care of me, bringing me meals, getting my homework for me, things like that. We seemed to be able to talk about anything and spent hours just talking and laughing. He quickly became my best friend. I was starting to have feelings for him, but wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about me until we were sitting on the couch in my apartment living room one morning and he leaned toward me and said, "Will you marry me in August?"
Those six words changed my life forever.
During our engagement I realized what a romantic my fiancé was. He wrote me notes and poems, bought me little gifts, and made me feel as if I were the most beautiful woman on the earth. Everything in life seemed perfect then and I couldn’t imagine being any happier.
And here we are, almost twenty years later. He still writes me notes and poems, brings me flowers just because, and makes me feel as if I’m the most beautiful woman on the earth. But the love I had for him during our engagement has deepened and grown to so much more. The happiness and love I didn’t think could get any better, did. While I still love those romantic gestures, the true love and romance has come from the daily things he does for me and for our family. I’m feeling especially tender toward him lately, because I’ve been so sick from my pregnancy, and my husband has been there every step of the way, calling me throughout the day to check on me, making sure I have everything I need, as well as coming home from a long day of work and making a meal or doing a load of laundry. He takes our children to their activities and helps them with homework, reads the small ones a bedtime story, then falls into bed himself. Yet, instead of complaining, the first thing he always does is ask how I am. No matter what. And I love him for that.
Our relationship has had its ups and downs, we’ve had our struggles and triumphs, but through it all I know that I can count on him. That basis of friendship that we started out with is the foundation for our marriage and we’ve continued that. We still do dates every week, we still spend time just laughing with each other, we tell each other often that we love each other. And I think that’s what has kept our relationship so strong over the years.
So on this Valentine’s Day, I hope you get to spend it with someone that you love. Or, if you are still searching for that special someone, may you love those around you. You never know which one of your friends could turn out to be your valentine. :)
(And to my friend who doesn’t like the sappy stuff—if you are reading this, I’m sorry! I’m a sap! But then, you already know that.)
I have a friend who doesn’t like romance novels. She doesn’t like the sappy, sugary, happily ever after stuff. I, on the other hand, am the opposite. I love romantic books that show a couple with potential, with angst, and overcoming it all, end up together. I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for a happy ending and a good romance both in books and in real life.
Most of you know I had an unconventional courtship and romance. I did not date my husband before we got engaged. I met him at BYU and we became friends. I got sick at school and he took care of me, bringing me meals, getting my homework for me, things like that. We seemed to be able to talk about anything and spent hours just talking and laughing. He quickly became my best friend. I was starting to have feelings for him, but wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about me until we were sitting on the couch in my apartment living room one morning and he leaned toward me and said, "Will you marry me in August?"
Those six words changed my life forever.
During our engagement I realized what a romantic my fiancé was. He wrote me notes and poems, bought me little gifts, and made me feel as if I were the most beautiful woman on the earth. Everything in life seemed perfect then and I couldn’t imagine being any happier.
And here we are, almost twenty years later. He still writes me notes and poems, brings me flowers just because, and makes me feel as if I’m the most beautiful woman on the earth. But the love I had for him during our engagement has deepened and grown to so much more. The happiness and love I didn’t think could get any better, did. While I still love those romantic gestures, the true love and romance has come from the daily things he does for me and for our family. I’m feeling especially tender toward him lately, because I’ve been so sick from my pregnancy, and my husband has been there every step of the way, calling me throughout the day to check on me, making sure I have everything I need, as well as coming home from a long day of work and making a meal or doing a load of laundry. He takes our children to their activities and helps them with homework, reads the small ones a bedtime story, then falls into bed himself. Yet, instead of complaining, the first thing he always does is ask how I am. No matter what. And I love him for that.
Our relationship has had its ups and downs, we’ve had our struggles and triumphs, but through it all I know that I can count on him. That basis of friendship that we started out with is the foundation for our marriage and we’ve continued that. We still do dates every week, we still spend time just laughing with each other, we tell each other often that we love each other. And I think that’s what has kept our relationship so strong over the years.
So on this Valentine’s Day, I hope you get to spend it with someone that you love. Or, if you are still searching for that special someone, may you love those around you. You never know which one of your friends could turn out to be your valentine. :)
(And to my friend who doesn’t like the sappy stuff—if you are reading this, I’m sorry! I’m a sap! But then, you already know that.)
Julie Coulter Bellon — 2/14/2008 12:15:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I'm reading. And I forgive you for being a sap. Once every three or four years, I have a sap attack myself. But shhhh, don't tell anyone. I have a reputation to protect. ")
Karlene I think I might faint. You have sap attacks? I never knew you had it in you. *wink wink*
Thanks for the comment. Happy Valentines!
What phrase is the valentine equivalent for Bah-Hum-bug?
Oh, Sap.
Mush head.
emotional logic (which, if you think about it, is actually rather illogical).
I killed cupid.
Hallmark is dead.
Twiterpated (or the short version: twit).
Robison Wells
Kiss me when its over (no allusion to Wells' novel intended)
Much ado about nothing
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