“Love cares more for others than for self.” – Paul (1st Corinthians 13, MSG)
Tomorrow, on Valentine’s Day, my beautiful wife will be relaxing in a luxury hotel in Maui, which sounds fabulously romantic except for the fact that I will be at work 2500 miles away.
Sigh…
To explain, our oldest daughter teaches at a school that hosts a major fundraising event each year, and last year’s event included a trip for two to Maui as a raffle prize. Guess who won?! Somewhat surprisingly, she chose to take her mother along as her plus one, which I think is fantastic on multiple levels. My wife thinks it may primarily be so that mom will pay for the non-free portions of the trip, but even if so, it is what we call a “win-win” in the negotiation business.
Except for me, that is, who will be home alone enjoying a meal prepared by my favorite Italian chef, Mr. Chef Boyardee.
In the spirit of planning ahead, my wife and I created another daughter a couple of decades ago on the off-chance that our oldest daughter won a trip for two to Maui and invited her mother along on Valentine’s Day so that I would have another beautiful person to spend time with on such a special holiday. But that kiddo is 1100 miles away at college in Seattle.
Despite the three beautiful women in my life, I guess that I am destined to be alone this Valentine’s Day.
And yet I am genuinely happy. Seriously. No, I like those three human beings as much as you can like anyone ever and would love to spend time with them all, but it is so fun to stop and imagine the memories Jody and Erica will make together in Maui this week as well as how much Hillary enjoys being in Seattle. Love does that sort of thing to you. It produces genuine feelings of peace and joy when the objects of your love are blissfully happy without a second thought about what that means for you.
It doesn’t always look so great on paper, but I’m telling you that love is where it’s at.
Starting to Look Up 