Valentine’s Day is coming up this Friday. Ah, Valentine’s Day! The most romantic day of the year. The day when roses and chocolates and cute cards covered in hearts and glitter and filled with sweet odes to love can be found on every shelf of every store. I used to really enjoy this time of year…

There was a point in my life when I was in love. And I was truly in love. Most people say that when you’re young you don’t know what love really is, but let me tell you, I knew love well. She was my high school sweetheart, I was 19, we were engaged, and it couldn’t get any better! Unfortunately – and fortunately – it didn’t… Our anniversary was Valentine’s Day and for 3 years I had someone to share the day of love with. But for us it was different. While Valentine’s Day was a time to celebrate our love as another milestone was reached, we would take each day and turn it into something romantic. It was beautiful. I would write her poems, buy her flowers just because, and just be the all-around great guy that I am. (Not to ‘toot’ my own horn or anything…) But, as it goes, things didn’t work out as we had hoped, we grew apart, and it was over.

Since then, Valentine’s Day has been a day of mixed emotions for me. On the one hand, I look back and think that this Friday would have been our 6th anniversary and I try to imagine what it would be like to be with someone for that long. I am glad that we aren’t together anymore – frankly, it just wasn’t the best situation – but I do remember the good times and I miss that closeness that is found in relationships that last for so long. On the other hand, I look on towards the future, to what’s next with a hope for someone to fill my heart with love and joy, someone to share my life with, someone who isn’t perfect but is perfect for me.

It is on Valentine’s Day that my hope is renewed. Sure, it’s a very commercialized holiday but the meaning behind it still resonates within me and I wait in anticipation for what is to come. Some may call me a hopeless romantic, someone who is always touched by a happy ending to a love story, someone who looks longingly at couples that walk hand-in-hand down the streets. While that is true for me, I’d rather consider myself to be a HOPE-FULL romantic. I dream that the happy ending is mine, that I will someday – hopefully soon – be one of those people walking down the street with someone on my arm, that I will find, or be found by, that special someone that is out there just for me.

Who knows what this Valentine’s Day will bring? Lightning could strike and I could find “her” – whoever “she” may be. The day could go by like all others. Who knows? For me, everyday is a new opportunity to love, a new opportunity to live life to it’s fullest – whatever that might mean for each of us… What will today bring? Or tomorrow? Or the day after? Who knows? But I live in hope! “All I can is all I do: I dream of tomorrow…”