Valentine's Day is around the corner and  there's still time to plan and make the day spectacular for those you love most. Longtime Love

1. Pull out those photos that are piled up in your desk or displayed on your frig. Put  them in chronological order in a small photo album. Write a sentence or two about the occasion pictured and you have just documented your relationship.
2. Do the unexpected and plan a date doing something he loves and you generally avoid. Whether it is a weekend camping, a hockey game or an afternoon of ESPN, he will know you care when you give up your own interests for his.
3. Create a  coupon book he can redeem with coupons that include things he loves like:

• an hour long massage from you
• breakfast in bed
• take his car or truck to be washed and detailed
• sitting with him and watching the movies he loves and you don't (for me that would be war movies)

Children

1. Develop a traditional Valentine Breakfast and prepare it each year. I've made individual Strawberry Shortcakes for my family for over twenty years. It's a treat reserved only for Valentine's Day.
2. Hide some treats in your home, give your children clues and have a scavenger hunt in your own home. Follow this link for great  clues that are already written    http://www.pepperspollywogs.com/blog/index.php/a-valentine-scavenger-hunt/
3. Teach your kids about loving others. Make or buy Valentine cards and deliver them to residents of  nursing home in your area.

Lonely Loved One

1. Frame a photo of the two of you together. Attach a note that includes I remember when....... and you made me feel....
2. Set aside a little time to spend with Lonely Loved One.  Someone who feels alone would probably love joining you as you grocery shop or sitting in the car with you while you wait for your child in dance class.

No matter what you do to celebrate Valentine's Day or whom you celebrate with, keep this thought in mind:

Love does not dominate: it cultivates.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe