What Valentine’s Day Means to Us

It’s Valentine’s week here at Andreas Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning—what’s not to love?

I had never really thought about the history of this holiday before, so I decided to do a little research. A quick google search revealed an intriguing conflict as the foundation for this
holiday. The Ancient Roman emperor Claudius II banned marriage amongst the soldiers of ancient Rome. He did this because he felt that a soldier could not do a good job if he was married. Can you imagine? A wife and a distraction?

This is where St. Valentine steps in… He was a priest or a bishop during this time—details are unclear when talking about roman empires. He married Roman soldiers and their beloveds in secret, despite the emperor’s ban on such actions. When the emperor learned of St. Valentine’s actions, he ordered him to his death. His piety became very apparent when he did not die at the hands of soldiers beating him with clubs and stones. The emperor finally ordered him to be decapitated.

Talk about a deep belief in love. St. Valentine put his own life on the line because he believed in love and that people should be allowed to love one another, no matter what. It’s a beautiful gift to believe in love like that. No wonder his holiday has become the ultimate display of loving deeds, including large simultaneous marriage ceremonies and an upsurge in engagements.

The displays of love seen around Valentine’s Day are usually grand gestures or those with a lot of expense involved—the material manifestation of St. Valentine’s sacrifice in the name of love.
Ultimately, the goal of these gestures is not to show the one you love how much money you can spend on them, but to make that significant person in your life happy.

Making people happy and more comfortable is the name of the game at Andreas Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning. We had love on the mind this week with several Valentine’s gestures to put a smile on the face of our customers.

Many customers received a surprise from their service techs last week as our gentlemen arrived bearing carnations for their customers. I think this brought a lot of smiles to our customer’s faces—I’m sure those smiles reappeared every time those lucky customers looked at their flowers!

We also ran our first ever Date Night Giveaway this month. Our Facebook customers were asked to tell us about their ideal Valentine’s Day, which earned them an entry into a drawing for a gift certificate to A Ca Mia.

It was fun to read the stories and see what everyone would consider their ideal Valentine’s date. The response was overwhelming, but the same theme was apparent throughout. Everyone wanted time—time to watch a movie, time for a nice dinner out with their husband or wife, time to sit by a fire.

How did life get so busy that we’re always looking for more time? In a world of fantastic, unrealistic movies and reality shows that are anything but, it is refreshing to see that the response to what people really want at Valentine’s Day is time with their loved ones. The grand gestures of the movies with the carriage rides through central park, lobster dinners, or a surprise weekend in Paris, while nice, don’t necessarily show the love we want to see day in and day out.

My idea of the ultimate display of love? It’s the everyday moments—when he makes the stop at Starbucks, even though he doesn’t like the line. When he notices that we’re out of stamps and picks some up while he’s out. When he takes over at homework after I’ve had a long day and my patience is worn. When he brushes our daughter’s hair, careful to watch for the knots.
When he reads a text on my phone and makes sure to tell me right away if he thinks it’s important.

It’s the every day little things that matter the most. Time sounds little until you realize how much it means. It means everything.

When my girls were toddlers, I remember reading a quote that kids spell the word love as T-I-M-E. Seems to me that this sentiment isn’t reserved for just kids.