Chicago Revisited

What makes a great Valentine's Day? Jewelry? Presents? Flowers? Chocolates? Thoughtfulness? Personally, I think it's a combination of all of these (not, however, on the same year). But most of all (because I don't have any money to buy things), I think thoughtfulness makes a good Valentine's Day spectacular. I wasn't sure how thoughtful I was on V Day, but I knew my wife would like it. I surprised her with Chicago on Valentine's Day Eve--Sunday. We hadn't been there since our college graduation in 2002, and we had a blast. We stayed in a corner suite in the Omni Hotel, right on Michigan Avenue. Probably the nicest hotel room I've ever been in. Because we have no money and brought along our 10-month-old daughter, Abby, there wasn't a whole lot we were able to do. Walking around Chicago is enough, though. Just to take in the architecture does a lot for a midwesterner. We left Monday and headed for our Alma Mater, Olivet Nazarene University. That caused the memories to come flooding back. My wife's and my first date with each other...basically where we did all of our dating. Not a whole lot had changed, which made it feel as though we had never left. College was an amazing time. My daughter just added to the experience. I was looking all over at Olivet, trying to find someone I knew to show off my daughter to. Unfortunately, I guess I've been gone too long (is 3 years too long?) to find anyone there I still knew. We still had a lot of fun, visited some of the hot spots we frequented in college, and felt satisfied with our visit there.
I hope my wife truly felt romanced on this Valentine's Day.