Valentine's Day: as told by a Sappy MilSO

As most of you probably know, this Valentine's Day was mine and Ryan's "first" as a married couple.  It was really hard on me to be without him.  Holidays seem to be the worst.  I was lucky to be able to spend our "first" Christmas and New Year's together.  There was just something about Valentine's Day that made it extra difficult to be without him.

Most of the time, I don't like to talk about Ryan being gone.  I feel like people get tired of hearing about it, or that they would rather just ignore the fact that he's gone rather than deal with it.  I also don't like to be the "Debbie Downer" or the "complainer," so, I try my best to put on a smile and bite my tongue when I think of saying things like, "I wish Ryan was here."

BUT...

What people don't understand is: Ryan is my best friend.  It's hard being without your spouse, but when your husband and best friend are all rolled into one huge ball of awesomeness... that takes it to a new level of difficulty.  So, maybe I'll just continue to wear my heart on my sleeve and stop trying to conceal my emotions.  Maybe other people should change the way they see me.  Some days are harder than others and yesterday just so happened to be one of them.

Ryan did his best to try to make things a little easier for me.  He sent me chocolate-covered strawberries and balloons from Edible Arrangements.  My hubby knows me all too well: food is much better than flowers.  The strawberries were amazing, as told by my ten-year-old sister who helped me devour an entire box of them in one sitting.  What meant the most was this recovered-from-the-trash note that Ryan sent along with the delicious dessert:

I'm one lucky gal.

In addition to the dessert delivery, Ryan posted a plethora of pictures to my Facebook wall.  I think he knew that I was feeling down, or that I needed a pick-me-up.  That's the thing with Ryan.  He knows how I'm feeling without me even having to say anything.  Even from 7,838 miles away.