A love letter straight from my heart.

It’s mid February and the blushing pink tulip magnolias are opening down on 12th street and in the front yards around town. I would easily forget Valentines day if it weren’t for those flagrant unfurling blooms to remind me that the time of pink hearts is upon us. I find myself to be a strange mix of extremely sentimental and fervently anti-commercialism. I love love, and I hate compulsory shopping and deeply despise (excuse my french) plastic crap.

Building new traditions with my girlfriend these past 3 years has helped, she’s never let a valentines pass without sending me flowers from our friends at Kelly Flower Farm, this year no exception. A bottle of Grenache (my favorite!) from Lucille down the street, and some coffee beans for my espresso machine were the perfect gifts from her, local, consumable, and shareable! What a gem! For her I had a vintage Sade vinyl for her record player and a new novel to read from Bookish.

We walked through the blossoming almond orchards, shared a coffee, played her new record while making pasta dough with the kids, and played some scrabble too. I made a lemony pasta sauce, she made a cheeseboard, I made a massive garlic bread. Sunday we folded laundry together, did random chores, and got out for a hike with a picnic basket waiting in the car for after. Following paths and wandering in old oaks and vines, I joked that if I didn’t know those noises were distant cows mooing, I would think they were dinosaurs or some other fearsome beasts. We talked about places we might try to kayak when the weather turns warm, places we’ve gone hiking and places we may go in the future, birds we’ve seen recently, and other things we may do. We split up a chocolate bar on a wooden bench, and as the skies darkens conversations turn to dinner. I’ll stir fry mushrooms and cabbage in my wok, let the rice cooker take half the battle, feed my sourdough starter, and we’ll read side by side before we fall to sleep. That much, is for sure.

While perfectly lovely gifts exchanged make a sweet totem to the person we love on a yearly basis, the gift I’m most grateful for is the reclamation of the heart. Partnership in shared values for local businesses, cooking meals together, good food and drink, time spent outdoors and a love of reading and music is something I dreamed of but wasn’t sure could exist alongside the shared work at the gristmill of life. It does exist, and it’s enough to make a crusty baguette of a woman look forward to celebrating Valentines day again.