Aaron’s word of inspiration this week is Valentine.

In all my years on this earth, I have only really had one proper Valentine’s Day. It was last year. I was with the booty call and he came over the day after, brought me cute little chocolate roses and we had a nice movie watching date.

Of course, all our dates were movie watching dates.

It was nice and unexpected.

But it was also unneeded.

When it happened I was kind of blown away. I tend to date guys who aren’t so sentimental and the connection that I had with booty call wasn’t exactly what I would call overly romantic. His nickname is booty call for goodness sake! Not in the traditional sense of just coming over for sex, but we were always on his schedule and only ever hung out in my room watching movies. It was in no way a “relationship.”

Anyway, it was nice all the same.

And it also kind of makes me want to hold others up to that same standard of niceness. Now, I’m not saying that I expect gifts or whatever from partners, but the gesture was so sweet and simple. That’s what I like. I don’t need to be fawned over, and won’t demand it, and will tell you to stop if that’s your style. It’s not mine. Gift getting is not my love language.

Each guy that I connect myself with, I learn a little bit more about myself. And while I still hold firm to the idea that Valentine’s Day is sham and puts too many unrealistic pressures on couples, I did learn that I like when a partner shows a little surprise effort in our connection. It was a really nice thing to learn and experience 🙂

This year, as all the rest, there is no Valentine in my life. Unless you count my students. They give me cards and things and lots said Happy Valentine’s Day when we ended lessons on Wednesday. Last year they were my ducklings. This year my classes are my love bugs. And in my usual over the top bubbliness, we made love bugs together on Wednesday in our last online lesson before going back to in-person learning on Tuesday!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!