Valentine’s Day and Caramels

There are all kinds of love.

I don’t know about you, but I use the word love a lot. In fact I seem to use it just as much as I use the word hate and this year one of my goals was to use each word less. I want my words to mean more, to carry more weight, because in 2012, I have so much to say to that really matters to me. When I say I love something I want to mean it and I don’t ever want to hate anything, so there’s just no need for that word in my vocabulary anymore.

Eric and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. He is one of those people who doesn’t see the point and I must admit, back when we were first together, it bothered me. I’ll take any old occasion to celebrate love. I like hearts and things with hearts on them. Is it Tuesday with a full moon? Super! Let’s celebrate our love. I could go on with more examples, but I think you get the point.

After Eric and I got engaged, we decided to turn the date into our own personal version of Valentine’s Day, creatively called Engagement Day. This wonderful day falls on April 22 and we usually just sit around and congratulate the other one on how lucky they were to marry us.

When I think about my life before I was attached I remember feeling two ways about February 14^th. I either didn’t care at all and barley noticed it or I was invited to some sort of sisters are doin’ it for themselves happy hour.

Turns out, I only seemed to care about Valentines Day when I had a sweetheart. Now that I’m, ahem, older, I look at things that I love in different ways. I try harder not to take things for granted and I make a big effort to recognize things I’m grateful for. Slowly I’ve been learning to love my woo-woo.

Speaking of loving things, last year I learned to love caramels. Both of my parents have always loved them but I’ve always been a little meh. Last year though I discovered caramel on my own terms. And I fell in love.

I asked my friend Alana if she would make some with me for Valentines day this year. Luckily for me she said yes. Alana has a book coming out soon and you’re gonna love it. I drove over a mountain to get to her house and once, I even walked up a mountain to get to her house. You see Alana is a good friend, one of my favorites and her caramels are so good that I would climb any mountain – oh, I’m getting off track here.

Here’s her take of our day and the recipe for our rose caramels. They are easy enough to make in the morning, let them set while you’re at work and then wrap them up in the evening. It wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would be and in fact, I’d say it was easier than making a batch of cookies.

I hope you loved today. And I hope you love everyday.