Happy Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's today and my love showed up in St. George to surprise us!!  Of course, I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day than with my sweetheart, especially when I thought we would be spending the day apart.  It's even better that it's in sunny St. George away from the dreary cold up north.  The girls and I left Thursday afternoon for Caroline's tennis tournament (her first match was Friday morning) and Chris was just too busy to join us, so he and Ryan stayed home (for Ryan, it was the fresh snow that kept him home).  Then Chris woke up this morning missing us and the SUN, so the guys left the house at 7am and found us in t-shirts and tennis skirts on the court.  We were all SO excited!!

So, In celebration of this "day of love," I'd like to share a favorite quote of mine.  It's from the movie, Captain Corelli's Mandolin (which I haven't seen, but must be fairly decent if it includes this quote :-).  I think it's a beautiful metaphor of the true meaning of deep, satisfying, and enduring love . . .

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

~St. Augustine~